Samson leads RR to convincing win over SRH

The Rajasthan Royals (RR) defeated the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the fifth game of the 2022 Indian Premier League (IPL). The match was played in the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium in Pune. Sanju Samson was adjudged to be the Man of the Match.

Flawless batting innings for RR

The first couple overs for SRH seemed promising; the next 18 were far less so. For a start, they bowled 4 no-balls in the powerplay, the first of which could have seen the early return of Jos Buttler. However, you need a little bit of luck in cricket, and RR seemed to capitalize on that quite quickly.

Yashasvi Jaiswal took the early risks, before letting Buttler tear apart the bowlers as well. By the time Jaiswal was dismissed, the pair had managed 58 in the powerplay. Sanju Samson, the captain, made sure the scoreboard kept on ticking, even after Buttler fell.

The concern RR may have had at the start of the match would have most likely been whether Devdutt Padikkal could adjust to the middle-order. Like Buttler, Paddikal, too, took his time, but soon after teed off. Samson kept piling up the runs from the other end, and was dismissed for 55 off 27 deliveries.

Shimron Hetmyer and Riyan Parag were given the responsibility of finishing the innings, and, suffice to say, both played their roles to perfection. The pair managed to lift their team to a total of 210, the highest total of the tournament so far.

Boult and Krishna share new ball responsibilities

Trent Boult and Prasidh Krishna have had their best moments bowling at the start of the innings, and Tuesday was no different. Boult set the tone perfectly, asking questions to the opposition skipper, Kane Williamson, from ball one. In the fifth over, he delivered the near-perfect yorker, getting Pooran trapped leg before wicket.

Krishna, on the other hand, drew first blood, dismissing Williamson in the second over, albeit with a controversial decision from the third umpire. He then went on to get Rahul Tripathi’s wicket, an over that went on to be a wicket maiden.

The SRH top order had no response to the pair that bowled in tandem throughout the powerplay, at the end of which the score stood at 14/3.

Yuzvendra Chahal shines on RR debut

At the core of the Royals’ bowling attack are their two highly experienced spinners - Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal. If Boult and Krishna dominated in the powerplay, Ashwin and Chahal bossed the middle overs.

Ashwin bowled tight lines, barely giving scoring opportunities to the batters. As such, they felt the need to attack Chahal instead. However, that is easier said than done. Chahal left the batters dumbfounded with his tricks, and picked up 3 wickets in his first outing with the Rajasthan Royals.

Markram and Sundar save SRH from further embarrassment

For the most part of their innings, SRH were looking at a 100+ runs defeat. Even SRH would admit that defeat was inevitable after their horrid powerplay. Perhaps they would also be open to the idea of folding for less than 100 runs, especially after being reduced to 78/6 in the 16th over.

However, Washington Sundar, who had had a forgettable day with the ball, came out with nothing to lose. Sundar went after virtually everything, creaming Nathan Coulter-Nile for 20 runs in an over as well. On the other hand, Aiden Markram, who had been trying to hold his side together, reached his half century. Victory was a far cry for SRH, but Sundar and Markram’s innings definitely helped salvage a bit of their net run rate.