IPL: Hyderabad beat Rajasthan

Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Kane Williamson reckoned that both batting and bowling clicked for them as they registered a 11-run win over Rajasthan Royals to jump to the top spot of the Indian Premier League (IPL) here on Sunday.

Sunrisers Hyderabad are not best known for their batting and dealt with their first wicket in Shikhar Dhawan in the 3 over. Jofra Archer made his IPL debut in some style the other day against Mumbai Indians and would be keen to play more games in India.

Although captain Ajinkya Rahane’s unbeaten 65 kept hosts Rajasthan in the contest, this never looked a likely chase as the Sunrisers took full advantage of Chennai Super Kings’ defeat 24 hours earlier and moved two points clear. While the biggest buy of the season Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Rahul Tripathi have been far too inconsistent. The opener charged down the track to Sandeep Sharma but failed to make a connection as the ball clattered into the stumps.

The likes of Shakib-al-Hasan, Billy Stanlake Siddharth Kaul complete SRH’s attack.

Meanwhile, Rahane played himself in and just when things were getting too easy for the hosts, Siddarth Kaul struck a meaty blow by picking Samson. Earlier, Hyderabad rode on excellent batting by Williamson and Hales to post 151/7 in their 20 overs.

Yusuf Pathan of Sunrisers Hyderabad celebrates the fall of Ben Stokes’ wicket with teammates. This after Kaul gave Rahane a single off the first ball. He sends it high towards long off, Manish Pandey does brilliantly right on the edge of the boundary line as he extends his arms and catches the ball but throws it in just before his momentum takes him beyond the line.

Rashid was the key instigator to Punjab’s destruction, returning with figures of three for 19 in his four overs.

Gowtham started with a boundary off the first ball as RR now needed 17 off 5 balls.

WICKET! Gowtham strikes, Dhawan departs for 6 (4).

Dhawal Kulkarni continues despite the battering he received in his first over. The only positive for the visitors was that they didn’t lose any further wickets and reached 70 at the halfway mark with nine wickets standing.

And the flourish did start in the 12th over as Williamson hit Unadkat for 21 runs. Rahane slog swept Rashid for a massive six over square leg, but that was the extent of acceleration from the Royals captain.

He broke the second-wicket 92-run stand between Hales and Williamson and SRH’s innings kind of fell apart after that as they couldn’t get the late flourish they so desperately needed. Rajasthan has brought in Mahipal Lomror and Ish Sodhi.

But the decisive punch was delivered by Archer. He castled the unsafe Shakib Al Hasan (6) with a stunning yorker, before both Yusuf Pathan (2) and Rashid Khan (1) found the boundary riders.