Shikhar steers Sunrisers to big win over Royals
hyderabad — A scintillating unbeaten knock of 77 runs by opener Shikhar Dhawan powered Sunrisers Hyderabad to a massive nine wickets victory over Rajasthan Royals in the fourth match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Monday.
Chasing, Royals’ below par total of 125 for nine, Sunrisers cruised home scoring 127 for one in 15.5 overs. Dhawan fired 13 boundaries and a six in his entertaining knock which came off 57 balls. Kane Williamson added a valueable unbeaten knock of 36 runs off 35 balls.
Shikhar was later adjudged the man-of-the-match.
Earlier, disciplined bowling helped Sunrisers Hyderabad re- strict Rajasthan Royals to 125/9.
Apart from Sanju Samson (49) no other Rajasthan Royals batsmen rose to the occasion and were dismissed one by one. For Hyderabad, pacer Sidharth Kaul and spinner Shakib al Hasan took two wickets each while Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Billy Stanlake and Rashid Khan chipped in one wicket each.
Put in to bat, Rajasthan got off to a poor start as opener D Arcy Short (4) was departed on the last ball of the first over. But after that wicket, new batsman Sanju Samson (49) and opener Ajinkya Rahane (13) forged a crucial 46-run partnership to steady their team’s ship. Just when things seemed good in the middle, Rahane was dismissed in the seventh over by Sidharth Kaul.
Unperturbed by the fall of skipper’s wicket, Samson played freely, smashing the bad balls. Middleorder batsmen Ben Stokes (5), Rahul Tripathi (17) failed to utilise the start and were dismissed cheaply in the process.
While trying to increase the runrate, Samson was also dismissed. spinner Shakib Al Hasan dismissed Samson in the 14th over. Samson played 42 balls and slammed five boundaries.
Krishnappa Gowtham (0) was next to go. Kaul dismissed him in the 15th over.
Jos Buttler (6) and Shreyas Gopal (18) then joined in the middle but the latter failed and departed in the 18th over.
Gopal, however, tried to pace the innings but was sent packing in the last over by Bhuvneshwar Kumar. — Agencies