Match Review

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Sunrisers Hyderabad did face some early hiccups in the Powerplay but with Williamson and Manish Pandey’s third-wicket partnership showed significant promise of a recovery. However, as Pandey was dismissed in the eight over, by Curran, there was no coming back for SRH post that. In fact, the following two-wicket over by Gopal handed complete advantage over to the Royals.

Highs and Lows 

What a perfect show of T20 it would’ve been if both English wicketkeepers, Buttler and Bairstow, were in their top form on the same day. But it wasn’t the latter’s day at all, as he fell in the very first over of Hyderabad’s innings. Buttler looked in good touch but what could’ve been the most exciting contest of tonight was dead before we knew it. 

Rating Charts

Although things did not go down well for Hyderabad in the very first over of their innings, as they lost dangerman Jonny Bairstow to Ankit Rajpoot, the recovery started soon enough. Together, David Warner and Kane Williamson started building a steady partnership squeezing out boundaries in every over following the first. But Royals struck once again, Tom Curran dismissing Warner, but that didn’t kill the momentum entirely, thanks to Williamson. At the end of the Powerplay, Hyderabad were on 45/2 with Williamson and Pandey in the middle. 

Chasing a low target of 116, The Royals didn’t have to risk too much while batting. Naturally, openers Robin Uthappa and Jos Buttler took it slow and steady right from the start while regularly squeezing out a boundary when they could. Although the pace-attack led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar was calculative enough to keep the scoring under control, none of the three pacers could find a much-needed breakthrough for Hyderabad in the Powerplay which meant that Rajasthan added 31 runs in the Powerplay without losing a wicket. 

While Williamson started to settle down, the Royals made sure that Hyderabad are not free of regular hiccups. The seventh over was the calm before the storm as Hyderabad lost three more crucial wickets in the following two overs, courtesy, Shreyas Gopal and Curran. After the Englishman got rid of Pandey, Gopal struck twice in the ninth over dismissing the in-form Williamson and Virat Singh. Naturally, after losing five wickets in the first half of their innings, Rajasthan fell behind and were in desperate need for a partnership but they struggled to do so as Vijay Shankar’s 16-ball 7 was ended by Tewatia. Eventually, all SRH could muster at the end of the middle overs was a subpar score of 78/6. 

With a stable foundation already set for Rajasthan in their chase, the middle overs started off smooth enough and the two openers sailed through despite the absence of regular boundaries. It was in the eighth over, bowled by Khaleel Ahmed, that the innings saw its first six as Buttler launched a huge one. After a couple of uneventful overs, Buttler planted another huge six off Rashid Khan in the biggest over of the game up untill that point.. Following that, Royals donned their ruthless mode and went on thrashing every bowler starting from Rashid Khan to Khaleel Ahmed. The latter did manage one wicket in the 15th over but also gave away 13 runs, taking Rajasthan to a total of 111/1. 

With just four wickets remaining in Sunrisers’ account, the Royals were looking to bundle them out for as small a total as possible. Fortunately for Hyderabad, there were a couple of late contributions from Rashid Khan and R Sanjay Yadav, aiding the Sunrisers to a total of 115/8. Out of all 20 overs, the Royals conceded 10 or more runs in only one over and that was the 17th over, bowled by Tom Curran, wherein Rashid planted an enormous six. Meanwhile, Rajpoot and Unadkat managed to bag a wicket each to highlight their already decent bowling figures. 

With all the deed done in the first 15 overs, Rajasthan just required another five runs to win the game. There was nothing that Hyderabad bowlers could do at that point.

As the result suggests, a nine-wicket victory for Rajasthan, it was a totally one-sided affair. However, the bowling efforts by Shreyas Gopal and the batting heroics of Jos Buttler added significance to the game, making it an engaging affair for the spectators.