IPL PHOTOS: Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals

James Faulkner's second five-wicket haul of the season went in vain as Sunrisers Hyderabad beat spot-fixing-embroiled Rajasthan Royals by 23 runs to brighten their chances of a play-off berth in the Pepsi IPL.

- Scorecard

The Australian pacer helped restrict Sunrisers to 136 for nine, but his side failed to chased down the target on a slow pitch at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium in Hyderabad. .

Earlier, Sunrisers Hyderabad captain Cameron White won the toss and elected to bat.

The home side opened with Parthiv Patel and Shikhar Dhawan while Rajasthan sent in Brad Hodge to bowled the first over, off which just three runs were scored.

James Faulkner then struck with his very first delivery of the second over, bowling Parthiv for two. The left-hander tried to run it down to third-man but ended up dragging it back on to his stumps.

Faulkner struck against with the last delivery of his first over, having Dhawan caught at point by Ajinkya Rahane. The batsman scored just one and Sunrisers Hyderabad were reduced to 4 for 2 wickets after two overs.

Captain Cameron White was caught at fine leg off Shane Watson for a duck to leave Sunrisers reeling at five for three in third over.

Three wickets down and the score still in single digits, Hanuma Vihari and Samantray tried to repair the innings and understandably looked for ones and twos only.

Vihari was out in the 11th over after the duo shared 44 runs from 7.5 overs for the fourth wicket. They scored just three fours in their partnership.

Samantray was the top-scorer for Rajasthan with a composed innings of 55 from 46 balls, hitting six fours and a six.

Faulkner returned in the final overs to scalp the wickets of Darren Sammy (23), Samantray (55) and Dale Steyn (0) to complete his second five-wicket haul in the IPL.

He claimed five wickets for 16 runs in his four overs to restrict Hyderabad to 136 for nine in their 20 overs.

Rajasthan got off to a steady start, with Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane (12) sharing 39 runs for the opening wicket in 7.3 overs, but struggled after the duo departed in quick succession.

Dravid was out while running for a single off a misfield by bowler Mishra and Sunrisers captain Cameron White broke the stumps in a flash with the visiting side's skipper well short of the crease.

Seven balls later, Rahane departed as he holed out to Shikhar Dhawan at deep cover.

The home side produced disciplined bowling to restrict Rajasthan, who were playing their first match after three players were allegedly found involved in the IPL spot-fixing scandal that broke out on Thursday, to 113 for nine to secure their ninth win.

Amit Mishra returned with impressive figures of two wickets for just eight runs from his four overs. Thisara Perera, Karan Sharma and Dale Steyn also grabbed two wickets each.

With this victory, Sunrisers jumped to fourth with 18 points from 16 games. They play their last league match in Hyderabad on May 19 against Kolkata Knight Riders.