In the fourth game of the IPL 2018 which was between the hosts Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and visitors Rajasthan Royals (RR) at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium (Uppal, Hyderabad), SRH clinched an easy victory.
SRH decided to field first after winning the toss. RR only managed to score 125/9 in 20 overs while SRH reached that target in 15.5 overs after losing only one wicket. The hosts won this match by 9 wickets with 25 balls to spare.
Now, we will look at the hits and flops players of this match.
Hits
Rashid Khan (SRH) – Catches win matches. While the leg-spinner bowled in his standard, but his fielding put more mark in this game. While he had a bowling figure of 4-0-23-1, he also took two brilliant catches that helped to dismiss two important batsmen in this game.
His first catch was during the RR skipper Ajinkya Rahane’s dismissal. It was the effortful job for him as his brilliant sprinting and sliding effort made comfortable for him to take that important catch.
His next catch dismissed the set batsman Sanju Samson (49 runs off 42 balls). Again it was a good sprint before grabbing the ball with the sliding on the knees.
Shikhar Dhawan (SRH) – SRH opener Shikhar Dhawan was brilliant with the bat. The left-handed batsman remained unbeaten on 77 runs off 57 balls with 13 fours and only six as that helped his team to clinch an easy victory.
Earlier, Dhawan got a luck after Ajinkya Rahane dropped him at the slip and the 32-years old left-handed batsman didn’t make any further mistake to utilise that opportunity.
Dhawan was the Player of the Match for his brilliant batting effort.
Kane Williamson (SRH) – It was a brilliant day for the SRH skipper in all purposes. The new SRH skipper was brilliant in the field, superb on his captaincy role and responsible with his bat.
Williamson made one brilliant run-out to dismiss the RR opener D’Arcy Short. In next, the Kiwi skipper successfully took a catch on the second attempt to dismiss Ben Stokes, the expensive man in 2018 IPL Auction.
Williamson used the bowlers very well while the fielders helped the bowlers to get success.
With Shikhar Dhawan, Williamson put an unbroken 121-runs partnership for the second wicket. His 36 runs off 35 balls showed no chance for the visitors.
Also read: Reasons why Rajasthan Royals were dismantled by Sunrisers Hyderabad
Flops
Ajinkya Rahane (RR) – Not a good day for the RR skipper Ajinkya Rahane. At first, he scored only 13 runs off 13 balls before getting brilliantly caught out by Rashid Khan. Rahane himself failed to utilise the powerplay as well as he also failed to carry the innings.
Later in the second innings, Rahane dropped a crucial chance of Shikhar Dhawan in the very first over of SRH innings. Rahane should take that catch who dropped that in the first slip position. Dhawan was on 0 at that time who later finished the game single-handedly with 77 runs knock off 57 balls and received the Player of the Match award.
Ben Stokes (RR) – The expensive player in the 2018 IPL Auction failed to prove his value in this game. While he scored only 5 runs with the bat, his bowling figure was 2-0-21-0 as his economy rate (10.50) was highest in the game.
During his batting, Stokes had to take the responsibility to build up the innings which he failed totally. In the bowling, he conceded boundaries in the opening balls of his overs from which he failed to come over.
Also watch: Wriddhiman Saha runs out Jaydev Unadkat
Jaydev Unadkat (RR) – Though he was the only wicket-taker for RR, the left-arm pacer Jaydev Unadkat failed on his responsibilities. His final bowling figure was 3-0-28-1 while he conceded 22 runs in the first two overs that he bowled in the powerplay.
