 | « Back to article | Print this article |
Images from Thursday's IPL match between Rajasthan Royals and SunRisers Hyderabad, in Dubai.
Manish Pandey’s fine knock earned SunRisers Hyderabad an eight-wicket victory over Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League match, in Dubai on Thursday, and kept them in the reckoning for a play-offs berth.
The Karnataka batsman came to the crease with SunRisers in a spot at 16 for 2 in the third over, and systematically demolished the Rajasthan Royals bowlers to take the team home in 18.1 overs.
He was unbeaten after a splendid 83 from 47 balls, which included eight sixes and four fours.
His onslaught, during an unbroken stand of 140 runs from 93 balls for the third wicket with Vijay Shankar (52 off 51 balls), took the game away from the Royals.
Earlier, Jason Holder led a disciplined bowling display by the Sunrisers to restrict Rajasthan Royals to 154 for 6.
The victory, after three straight defeats, took SunRisers to fifth in the eight-team league with eight points from ten matches.
Rajasthan Royals are placed seventh with eight points too from 11 matches.
Sunrisers Hyderabad’s had the worst possible start to their chase with skipper David Warner (4) throwing away his wicket to Jofra Archer once again in the very first over.
The Barbadian-born English pacer then got rid of Jonny Bairstow (10) in his second over.
With the dangerous openers back in the dugout, Pandey made full use of the field restrictions in the first six overs. He targeted young Kartik Tyagi, smashing the right-arm medium pacer for three boundaries and two sixes.
He survived an lbw scare in the ninth over and continued to pick the Rajasthan bowlers as Shankar held fort at the other end.
Eventually the all-rounder, too, found his mojo, hitting back-to-back fours off leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal in the 11 over. He also hit Archer for three successive boundaries as the SunRisers cruised home.
Earlier, Holder led a disciplined bowling display by Sunrisers Hyderabad to restrict Rajasthan Royals.
Struggling at seventh in the eight-team league, with only three wins from nine outings, SunRisers opted to bowl after winning the toss at the Dubai International Stadium.
Playing his first match of the tournament, Holder (3 for 33) came up with an impressive bowling effort while also affecting a run-out to destabilise the Rajasthan Royals innings.
Rashid Khan (1-20) and Vijay Shankar (1-15) picked a wicket each.
Sanju Samson (36 off 26 balls) was Rajasthan Royals’s top scorer.
Put in to bat, Robin Uthappa looked in rampaging form, hitting the first four and six of the innings. He quickly raced to 19 off 13 balls.
However, his time in the middle was short-lived. After Ben Stokes (32) hit Holder for back-to-back boundaries in the fourth over, the West Indies skipper effected Uthappa's run-out as the Indian was late to turn back at the non-striker's end.
The Powerplay overs yielded 47 runs, including six fours and a maximum, for the loss of one wicket.
The big-hitting Stokes was dropped on 17 in the eighth over by Shankar off a Rashid delivery. Alongside Samson, he kept the scoreboard ticking.
A 56-run stand between the two was broken in the 12th over by Holder. Samson, who had posted his highest score since the 85 against Kings XI Punjab in Rajasthan’s second match of the tournament, was bowled by a slow off-cutter, after pulling the previous delivery over midwicket for a huge six.
Stokes's stay came to an end when the World Cup-winning all-rounder was bowled by Rashid at the start of the 13th over, with the SunRisers bowlers making a strong comeback in the middle overs.
Rajasthan lost wickets at regular intervals.
Jos Buttler, too, fell quickly, sent back by Shankar in the 16th over, and skipper Steve Smith (19) also failed to make an impact.
Riyan Parag’s 20 off 12 balls in the death overs gave the total some respectability.