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Sangakkara calls right at toss, opts to bat
Shane Watson led the chase as Rajasthan Royals beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 8 wickets. Chasing 144, Watson (98 runs off 53 balls) took Rajasthan past the finish line in 17.5 overs.
Earlier, luck favoured Hyderabad captain Kumar Sangakkara at the toss. With the flip of the coin going in his favour, Sangakkara decided to bat first.
Both teams made a change each to their squad. Rajasthan's Cameron White was replaced by Thisara Perrera, while the Sunrisers brought in Sachin Baby for Rahul Shukla.
Chandila struck early
But Hyderabad's luck lasted only till the toss. Rajasthan's Ajit Chandila grabbed the first wicket and it was all downhill from there for the Sunrisers.
Chandila induced a top-edge off Akshath Reddy's blade only to go to straight into the hands of Shane Watson. Hyderabad lost their first wicket off the penultimate ball of the first over and were 2-1.
Faulkner takes two quick wickets
James Faulkner then came into the attack and made an early impact.
He first had Hyderabad skipper Sangakkara out for four runs. Two balls later he had the dangerous and in-form Shikhar Dhawan for a duck.
Hyderabad innings dented by quick loss of wickets
Rajasthan and Faulkner were on a roll. The Australian paceman then had Karan Sharma, playing an irresponsible shot, caught by Hodge. This left the visitors reeling at 15 for 4.
Cooper gets into the act
Later Chandila picked his second wicket, having Thisara Perera (4) caught on the boundary line by Kevon Cooper.
The West Indian, later, himself got into the act and had Hanuman Vihari out for 4.
Sammy, Mishra steady Hyderabad
At one time Hyderabad were completely out of the game when they were reduced to 29 for 6, but later Darren Sammy and Amit Mishra struck a 58-run (48 balls) partnership to help Hyderabad pile a decent total.
A fine 41-ball 60 from Sammy (4x8, 6x1) -- his first IPL fifty -- and Mishra's 21 (4x2), rescued Hyderabad.
Steyn smashed 17 runs off the last over
Dale Steyn contributed a quick-fire eight-ball 18 towards the end after Sammy was the ninth and last Sunrisers batsman out in the 19th over.
Steyn pinched 17 runs off last over, bowled by Cooper to take Hyderabad to a respectable 144 for 9.
Rajasthan's Faulkner had a great time with the ball, claiming 5-20 from his four overs.
Rajasthan begin chase slowly
Rajasthan openers, Rahul Dravid and Ajinkya Rahane, were slow off the block in their chase. Steyn and Ishant Sharma opened the bowling and both kept the Rajasthan opneners quiet early on.
Dravid welcomed Ishant with a boundary but Rahane could only manage a single off the next delivery. The latter then looked to hit Steyn for a six but only mamaged to be caught out by Sangakkara for 1 (9).
Watson joined Dravid and the duo began to score freely. Watson easily tackled Perera and Mishra, taking runs off them, at will.
Another fifty for Watson
Dravid was content just finding the odd boundary and playing second fiddle to Watson.
Watson was merciless and hit Mishra for a huge six in the 12th over.
Perera then got the crucial breakthrough of Dravid, who tries to hit a half-tracker out of the park, but gets the bottom of the bat and is taken by Hanuma Vihari for 35.
Watson then completed another 1PL fifty (39 ball) in the 15th over off a boundary off Ishant.