In a match crucial to both teams’ Playoff hopes, Rajasthan Royals were restricted to 154/6 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in a start-stop-start Indian Premier League innings on Thursday, 22 October.
This is the lowest first-innings total at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium in this IPL.
While RR fielded an unchanged side for this game, SRH were forced to replace an injured Kane Williamson, giving Jason Holder his first game of the season. Shahbaz Nadeem came in for Basil Thampi.
The West Indies all-rounder Holder returned with figures of 3/33 and also effected the run out of opener Uthappa. Vijay Shankar (1/15 in 3 overs) and Rashid Khan (1/20) picked up a wicket each.
Put in to bat, RR openers Robin Uthappa and Ben Stokes had just started picking up the pace of the innings when a mix up in the middle got the former run out for 19 (off 13 balls) which included two boundaries and a six.
From there, all-rounder Stokes took the innings forward with Sanju Samson, who finally managed to make an adequate contribution to the total after facing a slump.
After scoring a total of 77 runs in his last eight innings which included 6 single digit scores, the 25-year-old Samson scored a 26-ball 36 which included three boundaries and a six.
He was eventually cleaned up by Holder, ending his 56-run partnership with Stokes (32-ball 30) who fell to Rashid Khan in the next over.
RR were 86/3 in 12.1 overs.
Jos Buttler, who smashed a match-winning 70* in their last game, was caught out for 9 (off 12 balls) after adding 24 run with the skipper. Steve Smith then stitched a 24-run stand with Riyan Parag before Holder removed both the batsmen on the first three deliveries of the 19th over.
Smith scored a 19 off 15 balls, hitting two boundaries, while Parag’s 12-ball 20 featured two fours and a six. Jofra Archer (7-ball 16*) finished the innings with a last-ball six and added 19 runs with Rahul Tewatia (2*) in the last 1.4 overs.
The Steve Smith-led Royals are placed sixth in the standings with eight points and still they have a thin chance of making to the next round. SRH, on the other hand, are a place below them on six points and thus have a four-point gap to bridge.
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