IPL 2019: Match 45, SRH vs RR – Who Said What

The Rajasthan Royals (RR) managed to win their fourth match in this edition’s Indian Premier League (IPL), beating the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by seven wickets at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. The victory also kept their hopes alive of staying alive in the T20 tournament. Meanwhile, the Sunrisers’ road from here on becomes tough as the Orange Army now need to win all their remaining four games.

The Sunrisers get a respectable score

The Royals won the toss and had no hesitation to field first, bearing in mind the record at the venue. Kane Williamson, the SRH captain, hit two fours and then perished to Shreyas Gopal. David Warner and Manish Pandey put their heads down and built a crucial partnership of 75 runs off 50 balls. Oshane Thomas broke the ominous-looking stand, dismissing Warner, who scored 37 from 32 deliveries.

Pandey scored his fifty off 27 balls and he became Gopal’s second victim after getting 61 runs from 36 balls with nine boundaries. Thereafter, SRH lost quite a bit of momentum and lost wickets at regular intervals. All of Vijay Shankar, Shakib Al Hasan, Deepak Hooda and Wriddhiman Saha got out on single digits. Rashid Khan found the boundaries to score 17 off eight and took the visitors to 160 in 20 overs.

The Royals win with comfort

The Royals openers- Liam Livingstone and Ajinkya Rahane- went hammer and tongs in the mandatory powerplay in which they racked up 60 runs. Livingstone was the more aggressive and he scored 44 runs off 26 balls to put the hosts in the driver’s seat. Rashid Khan went for a few in his first over, but the Young Turk came back as he got rid of Livingstone. Rahane looked good, having scored 39 from 34 balls.

Shakib gave SRH their second wicket as he accounted for Rahane’s wicket in the 12th over. Steve Smith and Sanju Samson got the Royals even closer to the target. Smith scored 22 off 16 with three fours before being dismissed by left-arm speedster Khaleel Ahmed. Nevertheless, Samson remained not out on 48 from 32 balls with four boundaries and a six to take his team over the finishing line.

Kane Williamson, the SRH captain, said

It was quite difficult out there. It was potential a competitive total at the halfway stage. They did better than us. They kept wickets in hand, we couldn’t get those breakthroughs and squeeze. It’s important to learn from our mistakes. We know we can get better. He’s (Manish Pandey) playing with freedom. Couple of great performances, let’s hope that continues.

It is a very fine line in this game. It is important to move forward. We were always considering those options (sixth bowler). We thought it would reverse. It was best option to stick with five, wasn’t to be tonight. Good performance from Rajasthan. Always good to play at home. Hopefully, we put up a good performance.

Steve Smith, the RR captain, said

Hopefully my arm is ok, it hurt initially because of the impact. It was a good end to our home season, the boys pulled things back nicely. Liam Livingstone was magnificent as he played with freedom and got us off to a good start. Samson finished things off nicely. Playing together as a group and we’re winning those key moments. We have been fortunate in the last few games. We need to continue winning and you never know. I have got one more to play in Bangalore, it’ll be nice to finish on a winning note. Hopefully the boys will play well in Bangalore as well.

Jaydev Unadkat, the Player of the Match, said

All I can say is I need this. I have had a tough time and I needed this to boost my own confidence. The management and Smudge has backing me. I needed that in such tough moments, really glad. I think they had a good powerplay but we always knew we could come back. We took the pace off the ball, had the fielders in right positions and that helped us.

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