Rajasthan Royals registered a win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in their opening match of IPL 2022 at the MCA Stadium in Pune on Tuesday. Set of 211, SRH could manage only 149/7 in their quota of 20 overs against a powerful RR bowling attack.
Kane Williamson asked Rajasthan Royals to bat after winning the toss. Bhuvneshwar Kumar got Jos Buttler caught at slips but replays showed it was a no ball. Buttler happily accepted the respite and scored 35 off 28 balls, while Yashasvi Jaiswal scored 16 off 16 balls for 20 runs.
Part of the runs came from Sanju Samson, who scored 55 off 27 balls, and Devdutt Padikkal who took a new role at No. 4 and scored 41 off 29. Shimron Hetmyer scored 32 and this allowed RR to score. Post a tough total without much meat in your batting line-up against an SRH side.
Scary start to SRH
Chasing 211, Sunrisers Hyderabad never had a chance when the famous Krishna removed Kane Williamson and Rahul Tripathi in their first two overs. The famous was in fine form against West Indies and continued his good run in the opening match of IPL 2022 for Rajasthan Royals.
SRH vs RR, IPL 2022 Highlights
Kane Williamson was coming off a long injury break and opened with Abhishek Sharma. The captain’s early dismissal meant that SRH had to rely on the expertise of Nicholas Pooran.
However, Pooran fell for 0 off 9 balls, failing to justify his hefty price tag once again as Trent Boult trapped the West Indies batsman in front.
Sunrisers slipped to 14/3 at the end of 6 overs. His Lowest Powerplay Total in the history of IPL.
Chahal shines in pink
Yuzvendra Chahal, who was not retained by Royal Challengers Bangalore, showed his mettle, this time wearing the pink of Rajasthan Royals. The leg-spinner took a wicket in his first over for the Royals and ran up the middle order to ease Sunrisers’ trouble.
Chahal finished with figures of 3/22 in his 4 overs spell.
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) 29 March 2022
Beautiful, Markram Fight
Just when it looked like the Sunrisers net run rate would take a big hit, Romario Shepherd provided some spark with 24 off 18 balls.
Washington Sundar, who conceded 47 runs in 3 overs, made up for it with the bat in a six-hitting spree in his partnership with Aiden Markram. The duo added 50 runs in just 19 balls and ensured that SRH closed the gap. Sundar was dismissed for 40 in 14 balls, which fell in the over of Trent Boult.
padikkal break free
Devdutt Padikkal played for Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2020 and 2021 and immediately impressed many in the cricket fraternity. In his debut season two years ago, Devdutt Padikkal scored 473 runs followed by 411 runs in 2021, including his maiden century. However, he was not retained despite scoring 884 runs in 29 matches for RCB. Perhaps his strike rate of 125.04 was a cause of concern for a team that relies on power-hitters.
Debuting for Rajasthan Royals, Devdutt Padikkal batted at No. He was slow off the block but broke the shackles against Romario Shepherd. Padikkal’s 41 runs in 29 balls (strike rate of 141.37) hit 4 fours and 2 sixes.
Bhuvi, Umran Aag
Bhuvneshwar Kumar had a poor time in the T20 World Cup but his skills were on full display in the T20I series against West Indies at home. On Tuesday, he started well on the green pitch at the MCA Stadium and dismissed Jos Buttler at first slip, but it was a no ball. He got a wicket at the end of his spell, but conceded only 29 runs in his 4 overs, while RR scored 210 for 6 in his overs.
Umran Malik, who impressed with his pace last year, was good again in the night for SRH. That was expensive – his 4 overs went for 43 runs – he bowled with a lot of heart. The ball that dismissed the dangerous Padikkal was completely peach. Shortly before this, Malik got rid of Jos Buttler, who has single-handedly destroyed quality bowling attacks over the years.