The match which was looking like over for Rajasthan Royals (RR) after the dismissal of Sanju Samson in the 12th over of the chase, Rahul Tewatia and Riyan Parag refused the give up and took their team home. They left the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) stunned and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat by chasing down 159 runs in the last over thriller.
Earlier, David Warner led from the front as he scored 48 but was dismissed in the 15th over of the innings. He was well supported by Manish Pandey as they added 73 runs for the second wicket. The Royals bowled well too as they made sure that SRH batsmen don’t score a lot of boundaries.
After Warner’s dismissal, Pandey went on to score his half-century. However, just when SRH needed Pandey to go berserk, he got out after mustering 54 off 44 balls. Even RR bowled well at that stage only to blow away all the hard work done in the innings, but owing to some lusty blows from Riyan Parag, SRh reached a total of 158 runs which looked far fetched after Pandey got out.
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The Royals were bolstered with the comeback of Ben Stokes’ return to the line-up and surprisingly, he was sent to open the innings alongside Jos Buttler. Steve Smith’s poor run continued as he got run-out before Khaleel got the better of Jos Buttler to leave RR reeling at 26/3 in the powerplay. Robin Uthappa and Sanju Samson amassed 37 runs for the third wicket to keep the team in the hunt.
However, Rashid Khan weaved his magic and dismissed Samson revealing the team reeling at 78/5. Riyan Parag and Rahul Tewatia then spent some time at the crease to get the hold of the conditions. The left-hander stunned the Afghan leggie to hit him for two fours off reverse sweeps and then slammed one over extra covers to churn out 14 runs from the crucial over. Earlier, Sandeep Sharma had conceded 18 runs in the 17th over and the equation had now come down to 22 runs off the last two overs.
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Khaleel Ahmed was given the responsibility to defend 8 runs in the final over but Parag and Tewatia were too good on the day as they heroically got the Royals over the line with a stunning partnership of 85* for the sixth wicket.
Hits
Riyan Parag
After failing on a consistent basis in the first 6 matches of the IPL 2020, the young RR batsman, Riyan Parag was desperate to score and he roared when it mattered the most. Parag amassed as many as 42 runs in just 25 deliveries with the help of two 4s and as many as 6s.
Flops
Jonny Bairstow
It’s been the second consecutive game when Jonny Bairstow has failed to deliver when the team needed him. Apart from his fifty against RCB, he has been a disappointment for SRH.
T Natarajan
After bowling match-winning spells against CSK and KKR, T Natarajan has failed to take wickets for SRH. In order to Sunrisers have a chance to reach the playoffs, Natarajan needs to be more consistent, especially after the injury of Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
