Is Sunrisers Hyderabad's (SRH) form from last year still haunting them? as the side lost by 61 runs against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Match 5 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune.
Talking about the Rajasthan side, they became the first team in this ongoing edition to win by batting first. They had plundered 210 runs with the bat, and with an experienced bowling line-up, they made sure the total was defended.
Kane Williamson, who came in as an opener was sent back for just two runs and his dismissal surely sparked a huge debate. His partner Abhishek Sharma stayed for a while, but he could not do much as he was too dismissed for just nine runs.
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Rahul Tripathi and Nicholas Pooran, who should have proved to be lethal, got out for ducks which changed the game in favour of the Boys in Pink. Abdul Samad too could not do much as he scored just four runs.
Romario Shepherd played a cameo as he scored 24 off 18 balls, which saw the scoreboard ticking, but it was all Washington Sundar (40 off 14) and Aiden Markram's half-century not out, that helped them put a bit of run on the board.
Trent Boult did some tight bowling and got the better of Pooran while Prasidh Krishna too got the wicket of his former Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) teammate Tripathi for a golden duck. His earlier had sent back skipper Williamson.
Spinner Yuzvendra Chahal completed his 3-fer and even got his 250th T20 wicket. He first struck sending opener Abhishek and then he got his second wicket in Abdul Samad. The third came in the form of Shepherd.
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Earlier, captain Sanju Samson's blistering half-century and cameos from Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer and Jos Buttler guided Rajasthan Royals to 210/6.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar got the wicket of wicket-keeper batter Jos Buttler in the fifth ball but unfortunately, he overstepped and due to no-ball the decision was overturned.
Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal batted consciously in the beginning and then in the fourth over the English wicket-keeper batter struck 21 runs to Umran Malik in his very first over to take the team's total to 34 in four overs with the loss of any wicket.
In the very next over Washington Sundar was introduced into the attack and he too went for 18 as Rajasthan reached the 50-run mark in the fifth over. At the end of the powerplay, the inaugural champions had scored 58 runs with the loss of any wicket.
Medium-pacer Romario Shepherd was once again introduced into the attack dismissing Yashasvi Jaiswal caught by Aiden Markram for 20 as the Guyanese got his maiden IPL wicket to leave Rajasthan at 58/1.
Captain Sanju Samson walked into bat and he started off aggressively hitting boundaries and sixes. In the ninth over Umran Malik was once again introduced into the attack and the Kashmiri pacer got the prized scalp of Buttler for 35 off 27 balls caught behind by wicket-keeper Nicholas Pooran.
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Sanju Samson was hardly affected by the dismissal of Buttler and he kept on scoring runs by hitting boundaries and sixes. Devdutt Padikkal too gave his captain good support from the other end to take the team's total beyond the triple-figure mark in 11 overs.
The 73-run partnership was finally broken when pacer Umran Malik cleaned up Padikkal for 41 off 29 balls to take his second wicket of the match and leave Rajasthan at 148/3.
Samson notched up his half-century in just 25 balls to take Rajasthan Royals total beyond the 150-run mark in 15.3 overs.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar finally got the prized scalp of Samson dismissing him for 55 from 27 balls caught by Abdul Samad. The fall of the captain's wicket did not put brakes on the scoring of Rajasthan Royals as Shimron Hetmyer batted brilliantly to take his team's total beyond the 200-run mark.
Hetmyer was dismissed for 32 from 13 balls as T Natarajan cleaned him up and he also dismissed Riyan Parag for 14 in the 20th over as Rajasthan set Hyderabad a target of 211.
