On this working Monday of April 9th, 2018, we see the return of Rajasthan Royals in IPL in the massive stadium in Hyderabad. Sunrisers Hyderabad who faces Rajasthan Royals will be looking for a victory to kick off their IPL season with a bang. See how Shikhar Dhawan takes Hyderabad to victory.
Build Up To The Match
Royals and Hyderabad both suffered huge losses as both the team lost their captains, Steve Smith and David Warner respectively due to ball tampering scandal.
Ajinkya Rahane leads Rajasthan Royals whereas Kane Williamson takes the place of David Warner as the skipper. Both the teams look well balanced despite their star captains.
SRH Win The Toss And Opt To Bowl First
Sunrisers won the toss and opted to chase against the Royals. The Royals bring their star line up with the most expensive player of IPL 2018, Ben Stokes included in the playing XI. The hard-hitting batsman, Jos Buttler also starts for the team from Rajasthan. SRH bring Yusuf Pathan from KKR and all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan starts as well.
Rajasthan’s Batting
Royals started off poorly by losing their opener in the very first over. Captain Rahane and the youngster Sanju Samson tried to steady the ship but the captain ended up losing his wicket just before the 50 run partnership.
From that point onwards, it was just a downhill show from the Royals as they kept on losing wickets at regular intervals. It was Sanju Samson who fell 1 run short of his half-century with the highest score for the team.
Brilliant Fielding By SRH
The efficient bowling line up of SRH showed their class as the bowlers kept taking wickets. Sunrisers took 9 of Rajasthan’s wickets.
The team from Hyderabad has their fielding boots on as well as they succeeded in running out two batsmen as well. Both Siddarth Kaul and Shakib Al Hasan took 2 wickets each with both being very economical.
Sunrisers restricted Rajasthan Royals to just 125 at the loss of 9 wickets.
Sunrisers Chase A Small Target
With just above 6 runs per over required, Sunrisers start the chase on high despite losing a wicket in the very first over. Shikhar Dhawan manages a half-century off just 33 balls. Dhawan and Williomson bring up the 100 run stand with Dhawan dominating. The pair guides Hyderabad to open their account in IPL 2018 with an easy victory with 9 wickets remaining.
Rajasthan Royals’ Poor Performance
Like their batting, the bowling department could do a little to lift up team’s spirits. Royals could just manage to take one wicket for their efforts.
Man Of The Match
For his outstanding performance with the bat, Shikhar Dhawan was declared the man of the match for this blistering half century.
Click here to check out the highlights from the mouth-watering encounter between Kolkata and Bangalore.
