Sunrisers’ bowlers sparkle, restrict Rajasthan to a paltry total

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The Sunrisers gave an early wake up call to Rajasthan Royals, pinning them to a lowly 125/ 9 in their campaign opener here on Monday night.

Returning to the big league after two years, the Royals struggled to find their feet in the face of some sharp bowling by the hosts as they stumbled after being put in to bat at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium.

Sanju Samson ( 49) was the only one who could make an impression with the bat as his team mates flattered to deceive.

Opener D’Arcy Short started with a powerful shot that crashed to the boundary but soon fell short of the crease as he tried to take a run. Home captain Kane Williamson did the damage with a direct hit from mid- off as the Royals lost their first wicket in the first over.

Sanju Samson stepped in and tried to steady the innings in the company of his captain Ajinkya Rahane. The hosts pressed in left- arm spinner Shakib Al Hasan as early as in the fourth over but Sanju stepped out to spank him over the in- field to the boundary.

Australian paceman Billy Stanlake extracted good bounce off the pitch causing much discomfort to the batsmen.

Rahane got out on an unlucky 13. Trying to accelerate, he lifted one from pacer Siddharth Kaul into the deep mid- wicket region where Rashid Khan pulled off a brilliant running catch.

Rashid then bowled a tight first over, eighth of the innings, in which he conceded just one run as he continued to baffle batsmen with his mysterious spin. Having been tied down, frustration soon got to Ben Stokes, who holed out to Williamson at long- on, Stanlake being the bowler.

At the half- way stage, Rajasthan were 71/ 3, desperate ■ to double it up.

No. 5 Rahul Tripathi survived a chance on 16 when the tall Stanlake, diving forward at third man could not get his fingers around the top edge off Siddharth Kaul.

He could not capitalise on the let off though, hitting Shakib straight to Manish Pandey at long- on.

Samson followed soon, falling to another brilliant running catch by Rashid Khan at deep cover off Shakib, one run short of 50. From the other end, Kaul got rid of K. Gowtham as he got the ball to bounce right into his body at an awkward height.

With the last five overs to be played, the visitors were 97/ 6, clutching at straws.

They barely managed flap a bit at the end. to