IPL 6: Rajasthan Royals maintain winning streak at home

Rajasthan Royals 146 for 2 (Watson 98), Dravid 36) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 144 for 9 (Sammy 60, Faulkner 5-20) by 8 wickets

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Sunrisers Hyderabad were thwarted by an excellent bowling performance from Rajasthan Royals as the hosts maintained their unbeaten record at home. It was a clinical performance from Rajasthan Royals as they outclassed the Sunrisers Hyderabad in all the departments of the game.

James Faulkner had Sunrisers Hyderabad on the ropes at 29/6. But Darren Sammy and Amit Mishra put on a salvaging partnership of 58 runs that helped Sunrisers Hyderabad post a competitive total on a seaming wicket at Jaipur. Rajasthan Royals bowlers were spot on with their line and length and consequently, the Sunrisers batsmen found it difficult to play strokes. Dhawan, Sangakkara, and Reddy were deceived by the seam movement of the surface with the new ball.

But Sammy once again played a splendid innings of 60 as he was timing the ball to perfection. Perhaps Rajasthan didn’t execute their plans at the death overs. They were also bowling too many wides and didn’t apply the pressure on the Sunrisers Hyderabad despite rattling their top order batsmen. Cooper had been an outstanding bowler for Rajasthan, especially in the death overs, but was hammered for 42 runs in his four overs. Perhaps he was bowling too many loose deliveries outside the off-stump that Sunrisers Hyderabad batsmen cashed in on. Also, the last over that cost 23 runs helped Sunrisers post a competitive total of 144 runs.

James Faulkner, who performed brilliantly for Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League, wrecked the Sunrisers Hyderabad top order. He grabbed five important wickets to push Sunrisers onto the backfoot.

There was seam movement in the wicket, especially with the new ball and therefore Sunrisers batsmen found it difficult to exploit the first six overs. They couldn’t predict which way the new ball was deviating.

Rajasthan Royals had a brilliant day in the field as they took a couple of spectacular catches. Watson’s catch at slip to get rid of Sangakkara and Rahane’s catch to get rid of Dhawan were the turning point of the match.

Rajasthan Royals don’t bat deep and therefore it was important to have Shane Watson at the centre till the end of the innings. They heavily rely on Watson, Binny, Hodge and Rahane. If Dale Steyn and Ishant Sharma could have got atleast a couple of these batsmen early in the innings, then Rajasthan’s batting would have been tested. But Watson batted brilliantly and scored a superb 98* to help Rajasthan maintain their winning streak at home.

Dale Steyn was getting the seam movement off the surface and consequently, Rajasthan found it difficult to exploit the first six overs. Interestingly, Dravid and Rahane opened the innings for Rajasthan as they desperately want Shane Watson to finish for Rajasthan. The wicket of Rahane did not affect the scoring rate as Dravid and Watson steadied the ship for the home side and in the end Watson finished the game for Rajasthan with two blistering boundaries.

Rajasthan Royals play their next game against Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 29, while Sunrisers Hyderabad play their next game against Mumbai Indians on May 1.