Rajasthan Royals got off to a flying start in this year’s Indian Premier League as they comprehensively beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 61 runs. After losing the toss, Sanju Samson’s side batted first and in the very first over, opener Jos Buttler was caught behind but fortunately, Bhuvneshwar Kumar overstepped. Since then RR was on their way to attacking the undisciplined SRH bowling. Captain Sanju Samson’s brilliant half-century (55 off 27) along with handy knocks from Devdutt Padikkal and Jos Buttler helped Rajasthan post a mammoth total of 210/6.
In reply, SRH batting was under pressure from the very first ball against a quality RR bowling attack. Chahal, Boult and Krishna were all on their front foot to secure a big victory for the Royals. Aiden Markram and Washington Sundar’s efforts with the bat helped Sunrisers get to somewhat a respectable score of 149/7. With this big win, Rajasthan is now at the top of the points table with a net run rate of +3.
Let’s look at the major talking points from this game –
1. Sanju Samson leading from the front
The wicketkeeper-batsman often starts every IPL season with a bang, and this year is no different. Since 2017, Samson generally scores some decent runs with the bat in the first few games. Last season was his debut campaign as captain and he contributed 484 runs in 14 games. This year, he was on song right from the start as he came ahead of Devdutt Paddikal in the batting order and played a gem of an innings (55 off 27).
2. Raw pace of Umran Malik
On a day when Sunrisers bowling was all over the park, one guy literally caught the eyes i.e. Umran Malik. Although he was a bit expensive his consistent pace of over 145 kmph in every other ball was literally exciting to watch. Malik is a promising youngster that Hyderabad retained this season and more to come from him. He finished with the figures of 2/39 in his four overs.
3. Controversial dismissal of Kane Williamson
Hyderabad had a massive total to chase and skipper Kane Williamson came to open the batting ahead of Rahul Tripathy. The Kiwi star never looked comfortable against his national teammate Trent Boult and eventually, he got caught behind a surreal delivery of Prasidh Krishna in the next over. Devdutt Padikkal took a catch with the ball just falling in his pair of hands in the first slip but whether the ball touched the ground before that, remains an argument.
4. Lots of work to do for Kane as captain
It is looking like Sunrisers Hyderabad are not yet ready as a team as many questions are coming up regarding their performance and strategy in the first game. Kane said in the post-match that his team and bowling will have to be more disciplined going forward in the tournament.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Williamson said, “It was a surprise in a lot of ways, we certainly do not want to be doing that going forward. Clearly, it presents a number of extra deliveries in an innings and when you take a wicket off a no-ball, it is never nice. At the same time, it is important for us to look at areas where we can improve. There’s a number of things you cannot control.”
“So, Rajasthan played outstandingly well and for us, it’s looking at it logically I suppose, and understanding that there is definitely a number of things to touch on and move on as a team,” he added.
