During the 28th match of the 11th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) between Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at Jaipur, Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Rajasthan Royals by 11 runs to register their sixth victory of the season.
After Kane Williamson won the toss and chose to bat, Sunrisers Hyderabad scored 151-7 in their allotted quota of 20 overs. Williamson, who came in to bat at No. 3 in the third over, ended up top-scoring for his team. Hyderabad happened to post a bigger total than what they eventually ended up with. Credit to which goes to the hosts’ bowling unit.
In the second innings, Royals never really looked in any sort of trouble in the chase, especially in its first part. However, wickets falling at the one end and Ajinkya Rahane’s inability to launch the big shots caused them the match. They ended up scoring 140-6 in 20 overs.
Now, we will look at the hits and flops players in this match.
Hits
Kane Williamson (SRH) – The demotion in the batting order didn’t affect Kane Williamson or his form. He scored his seventh IPL half-century, 63 (43), with the help of seven fours and two sixes. His innings was a blend of class and grace.
Jofra Archer (RR) – Archer was introduced into the attack as the first change bowler, bowled his first over in the powerplay. He was brought back into the attack in the 13th over. By this time, he had conceded 15 runs in his first two overs. Bowling his third over in which was the 18th of the innings, Archer bowled Shakib Al Hasan (6) on the first ball of the over. On the last ball of the over, Yusuf Pathan (2) played an upper-cut to an Archer delivery straight into the hands of Dhawal Kulkarni at third-man. He ended up with figures of 4-0-26-3.
Siddarth Kaul (SRH) – Siddarth Kaul was introduced into the attack in the sixth over of the innings. Giving away eight runs in his first over, he picked up the invaluable wicket of Sanju Samson (40) in his second over. Bowling his last two overs in testing situations, he bowled knuckle balls at will, not giving any chance to the opposition batsmen to use the big handle. He registered match figures of 4-0-23-2.
Flops
Shikhar Dhawan (SRH) – Opening the batting with Alex Hales, Shikhar Dhawan failed to play an innings of significant impact. He got out to an off-spinner as he has been out several times in the past. He ended up scoring 6 (4) with the help of one four.
Rahul Tripathi (RR) – Rahul Tripathi started this season as a middle-order option for the Royals. There were talks of him being wasted in that position and that he should open the batting. However, the change in his batting position hasn’t reaped the desired results. Opening the batting with Ajinkya Rahane, Tripathi scored 4 (5).
Ben Stokes (RR) – With the ball in hand, Ben Stokes registered decent bowling figures of 3-0-20-0. Coming in to bat at No. 4 in the 10th over, Stokes was expected to share a stand with Ajinkya Rahane. The way he got out without contributing to a half-tracker from Yusuf Pathan let his team down big time.
