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Rajasthan Royals won by four-wickets against Sunrisers Hyderabad in a thrilling low scoring 'Eliminator' in New Delhi on Wednesday night.
-Hodge powers Rajasthan to victory against Hyderabad
Chasing a target of 133, Hodge hit Darren Sammy for two consecutive sixes to finish the match with four balls to spare and ensured his team's qualification to the next edition of Champions League T20.
Royals will now meet Mumbai Indians in the second qualifier in Kolkata on Friday.
Brad Hodge proved his worth as one of the most sought after T20 cricketers in the world as he single-handedly guided his team to victory.
The 38-year-old 'T20 freelancer' clobbered his way to a 29-ball 54 not out as Royals pulled off one of their most significant victories after the 'spot-fixing' scandal broke out with the arrest of three of their cricketers including S Sreesanth.
Shane Watson kept belting boundaries -- five of them -- as the Royals raced to 50 in the seventh over before the Aussie all-rounder was sent back due to an inspirational piece of fielding by Darren Sammy.
Watson pulled a half-tracker from leggie Karan Sharma which looked sailing towards the 'cow-corner' stands and to everyone's astonishment, Sammy took a magnificent catch.
After performing with the bat and on the field, it was time to roll over his arm and Sammy did not disappoint either.
Earlier, Rajasthan Royals bowlers produced a disciplined bowling performance to restrict Sunrisers to 132 for seven.
Vikramjeet Malik (2/14) provided twin breakthroughs, James Faulkner (1/28) and Siddharth Trivedi (1/18) consistently hit the right length.
Sunrisers batsmen could never really force the pace during the entire span of 20 overs save West Indies skipper Sammy (29, 3x6) striking a few lusty blows during the fag end of the innings.
Shikhar Dhawan (33, 39 balls, 3x4) was the other significant contributor although his innings was an uncharacteristic one by his standards as the slowness of the track didn't help his cause either.