Twitter Reactions: Sensational Rajasthan Royals steamroll hapless SRH to register a huge win

Rajasthan Royals (RR) have started their campaign in the 15th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) with a brilliant win over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). It was a one-sided encounter at the MCA Stadium in Pune which was totally dominated by the Royals who showed off their power hitting with a collective effort with the bat, and then the bowlers did their job perfectly to steamroll the Sunrisers’ batters.

Earlier, SRH could have gotten off to a memorable start after opting to bowl first, if not for a no-ball from Bhuvneshwar Kumar. He had dismissed Jos Buttler in the first over itself only for the third umpire to rule it a no-ball as the pacer had overstepped. The no-ball spree continued from the other bowlers as well, as the Royals openers churned out runs. The new ball was swinging a lot but the SRH bowlers didn’t make good use of the conditions.

An opening partnership of 58 runs in the powerplay overs meant RR were in a good position to capitalise and they did so with Sanju Samson also coming out and playing his shots. While Jaiswal scored a handy 20 before getting out, Buttler rode his luck on the day to smash 35 off 28 balls with three fours and as many sixes.

Openers getting out in a fairly quick succession didn’t deter the Royals as Devdutt Padikkal, batting at a new position at four, and his skipper Samson smashed 73 runs for the third wicket in less than seven overs. The latter got to his fifty off just 25 balls but when he and Padikkal got out again in a space of seven balls, SRH had a chance to control the game in the death overs.

However, that didn’t happen thanks to Shimron Hetmyer who launched an assault on their death bowlers T Natarajan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. RR added a massive 62 runs in the last five overs to end the innings on 210/6 in their 20 overs. It was a collective effort with the bat from the Royals as each of their top six reached the double figures and smacked at least two fours.

A forgettable day for SRH

SRH needed a good start then to keep up with the required run-rate. But Prasidh Krishna literally spit venom with his pace bowling. He made the new ball talk, extracting extra bounce and movement from the surface. He nipped out Kane Williamson, fairly controversially, and Rahul Tripathi with not much on the board while Trent Boult sent back Nicholas Pooran for a painstaking nine-ball duck.

At 9/3 in the 5th over, SRH’s hopes were realistically over and the only interest in the game left now was the margin of victory for RR. They also registered the joint-lowest powerplay score in the history of IPL scoring only 14 runs. The slide continued as Yuzvendra Chahal, on RR debut, struck twice to leave the Orange Army reeling at 37/5 in the 11th over.

The Royals would’ve entertained thoughts of a huge win but the lower-middle order of SRH showed some spine to save the embarrassment. Aiden Markram (57*), Washington Sundar (40 off 14) and Romario Shepherd (24) combined hit six sixes and 10 fours between them to take the team’s total to 149/7 by the end of the 20th over.

Rather it was Sundar who began the assault, smashing Nathan Coulter-Nile for 24 runs in the 17th over. SRH managed to score 68 runs in their last four overs which helped them from the ever-lasting damage to their NRR. Nevertheless, RR’s 61-run win is still a huge one as they have gotten off to a brilliant start in IPL 2022. They also became the first team to win by batting first this season.

Here’s how Twitter reacted: