Rajasthan Royals won their first match by 61 runs against Sunrisers Hyderabad. RR, with their aggressive batting and bowling lineup, started their campaign on a winning note, and beating SRH by 61 runs is not everyone’s cup of tea.
Rajasthan has opened its account in the Tata IPL 2022 in a grand fashion, while SRH, on the other hand, would be dejected as they weren’t in the match throughout the game.
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SRH with the ball in hand
SRH had won the toss and elected to bowl first. In the very first over, Bhuvneshwar Kumar had bowled a no-ball, or else Buttler would have been dismissed. RR had a destructive power-play as they scored 58 runs in which Buttler was in beast mode.
RR lost the openers in quick succession after the power-play overs. Captain Sanju Samson struck a scintillating half-century and made sure that the momentum wasn’t shifted from one team to another.
He got ample support from Devdutt Paddikal, who scored 41 runs in 29 balls. Both the batters took the bowlers to the cleaners. At the death-over stages of the match, Shimron Hetmyer went berserk and smashed a cameo of 32 in 13 balls.
His knock changed the nature of the match as RR set a daunting target of 210 runs for the loss of 6 wickets and gave a huge advantage to RR while in the dugout.
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RR while defending the target
Rajasthan Royals were all over the moon as they got 3 huge wickets in the powerplay overs. The score after the conclusion of power-play overs was 14-3. The wicket-takers were Prasidh Krishna, who took 2 wickets.
It was a tad difficult for SRH to make a comeback as the chunks of batter were back in the dressing room. Aiden Markram was the only bright spot, who struck a half-century and played a knock of 57 off 41 deliveries.
SRH’s bowlers were banging on target as they didn’t allow any batter to settle down. At the back end of the innings, Washington Sundar played a breezy cameo of 40 runs in 14 balls and changed the losing margin by 15-20 runs.
Yuzvendra Chahal was the pick of the bowlers as he took 3 wickets and gave away 22 runs in his 4-over spell. All in all, RR dominated the game as no one had in the tournament so far.
RR became the 1st team to win a match by defending the target in the marquee tournament so far. This was the first match played at Pune’s MCA International Stadium, which can be a factor for a team winning the match by defending.
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What lies ahead for Rajasthan Royals
RR would be thrilled as they announced their arrival with a resounding victory and would be hopeful that they continue their good work. Their next fixture is slated against MI on April 2nd.
Next match would be a defining one as MI had lost their 1st match and would be roaring to win the next match. RR has got everything to succeed and only time will tell how far they can go in the tournament, as winning 8 matches would book their place in the play-offs.
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What lies ahead for Sunrisers Hyderabad
SRH would hope that this loss is a passing shower and they should quickly make a move on this, or else making a comeback would be tough. SRH have got everything to be worried about as neither their batters nor bowlers showed a fight, which is a must in this league.
Their next match is against the Lucknow Super Giants on April 4th. LSG also lost its opening fixture against GT. All in all, SRH would hope for a quick turnaround as there is a very short period for any team to bounce back.
