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IPL PHOTOS: Rajasthan hold nerve to beat Hyderabad
A patient half-century from Ajinkya Rahane and an unbeaten 48 from all-rounder Stuart Binny helped Rajasthan Royals cross the line with three balls to spare, in a pulsating IPL encounter with Sunrisers Hyderabad in Abu Dhabi on Friday.
Chasing a modest 134 for victory, Rajasthan were reeling at 31-3, before the duo put on a 77-run stand to bail them out of the precarious situation.
James Faulkner applied the finishing touches with consecutive boundaries off Bhuvneshwar Kumar to see the team home.
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Sunrisers off to a poor start
After being put in to bat first, Sunrisers were off to a poor start, losing Aaron Finch in the opening over itself.
The big-hitting Australian tried to take advantage of a wide delivery from Dhawal Kulkarni, only to hit it to Kane Richardson in the covers.
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Warner, Dhawan resurrect innings
David Warner and opener Shikhar Dhawan then started the resurrection procedure for Sunrisers.
With runs hard to come by the duo mainly dealt in singles and twos before Dhawan placed one past point for the first boundary off the Sunrisers’ innings.
Warner followed soon as he took on Richardson, hitting him over the top for his first boundary.
Dhawan took advantage of spin, hitting Pravin Tambe out of the park, as the Sunrisers managed to get some sort of momentum.
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Bhatia puts the brakes on scoring
However, the skillful Rajat Batia put the brakes on scoring with clever change of pace and tight field placements by Shane Watson.
Bhatia’s persistence soon paid off as he induced a false shot from Dhawan, resulting in his wicket for 38.
Warner too fell in identical fashion to the same bowler for 32.
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Sunrisers lose their way
Sunrisers’ innings then never took off as they lost wickets at regular intervals, finishing with only 133.
Darren Sammy was foxed by Richardson’s slower one and caught by Sanju Samson behind the stumps.
Richardson, Kulkarni and Bhatia all picked two wickets each
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Royals off to a patchy start
Rajasthan too were off to a poor start, losing Abhishek Nayar in the opening over, to Dale Steyn.
Sanju Samson played a reckless shot to hand Sunrisers the initiative.
And when Shane Watson edged Ishant Sharma, they were reeling at 31-3 in the seventh over.
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Rahane, Binny bail them out
Ajinkya Rahane looked rusty but held firm. With his timing going awry, Rahane relied on singles to keep the scoreboard ticking.
Stuart Binny, at the other end, was far more fluent, managing to hit the odd boundaries to ensure that Rajasthan never got beyond the asking rate.
Binny took advantage of Darren Sammy, smoking him for a maximum and boundary in the 10th over.
Rahane soon brought up his half-century with consecutive boundaries off Steyn.
And even though Amit Mishra did provide Sunriseres a glimmer of hope, Faulkner sealed off the game with twin boundaries at the end.