Dhawan, bowlers give 'Royal' pounding to Rajasthan, Sunrises start with 9 wicket win

Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and opted to bowl in their opening IPL match against Rajasthan Royals here today.

Shikhar Dhawan rose to the occasion in the absence of regular captain David Warner as Sunrisers Hyderabad made light work of the 126-run target to romp to a nine-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals in their opening match at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.

Sunrisers Hyderabad shook off Saha’s early dismissal (5) through Shikhar Dhawan and Kane Williamson, who blazed away making full use of the field restrictions in first six overs.

Sunrisers raced to 57 for 1 at the end of power play mainly due to some calculative hitting from captain Williamsons and opener Dhawan.

Dhawan slammed an unbeaten 77 and captain Williamson ably supported him with an unbeaten 36. The duo together an unbeaten 121-run stand for the third wicket, giving the Royals no chance whatsoever, reaching home with 25 balls to spare.

Dhawan though, could have been dismissed for a duck had Ajinkya Rahane held onto a sitter at first slip in the very first over of the chase. That was the rub of the green Dhawan needed to step his game up and he did so in some style. Dhawan cut Kulkarni first past point for a boundary and then upper-cut him over third man for a six to make his intentions clear.

Dhawan slammed 13 fours and a six in his 77-run knock. He was particularly severe against Ben Stokes, clobbering him for four boundaries. Ben Stokes was a major disappointment, conceding 21 runs in his two-over spell and scoring only 5 runs with the bat.

Rajashtan Royals innings

Some things never change. In IPL, it’s the bowling of Sunrisers Hyderabad. Early breakthrough at the top, a flurry of wickets in the middle and a stranglehold towards the end, by far the most complete bowling performance in this season’s IPL restricted Rajasthan Royals to 125/9.

The home side bowlers justified captain Kane Williamson's decision to put the opposition in after winning the toss as the Royals struggled to score runs on a pitch which got the turn as the match wore on.

The Royals could not build partnerships and they crumbled under the pressure of a disciplined bowling attack of the Sunrisers.

Sanju Samson top-scored with a 42-ball 49 and his 46-run stand with captain Ajinkya Rahane (13) for the second wicket was the highest partnership for the Royals. One-down Samson looked like he would anchor the innings after Rahane was out early but he also got dismissed in the 14th over when he was just one run short of a half century.

For the Sunrisers, which have one of the best bowling units in this IPL, Shakib Al Hasan and Siddhart Kaul grabbed two wickets apiece while Afghan leg-spinner Rashid Khan, Australian pacer Billy Stanlake and Bhuvneshwar got one wicket each.

The Sunrisers got immediate success after the start of the match as the Royals' opening batsman D Arcy Short was caught short of his crease with Williamson's rocket throw from the mid-off rattled the wickets in the final ball of Bhuvneshwar Kumar's opening over.

Rahane, who was captaining the Royals after disgraced former Australia skipper Steve Smith was barred by the BCCI from taking part in the IPL, got out in a wrong time as he was caught by Rashid at deep off the bowling of Kaul.

A miserly over from Rashid was followed by Ben Stokes' (5) dismissal off Stanlake as the Royals were 71 for 3 at the halfway mark.

Samson, meanwhile, was going steady for some time but wickets fell at the other end. Rahul Tripathi (17) gave him some company but did not last long as he became Shakib's first victim.

Samson himself followed suit three balls later, giving Shakib his second wicket of the night and at that stage the Royals innings was in tatters.

Krishnappa Gowtham could not open his account from the two balls he faced and fell victim of Kaul. Englishman Jos Butler was left to add some runs to the Royals kitty but he too could score just six from nine balls.

Toss Report

Sunrisers Hyderabad new captain Kane Williamson won the toss and opted to field first in match 4 of the eleventh edition of IPL against Rajasthan Royals at Hyderabad.

Both Williamson and Rahane have big shoes to fill that of seasoned campaigners David Warner and Steve Smith, who were  banned by Cricket Australia and IPL for 1 year for their involvement in ball tampering.

The Sunrisers have gone for Shakib Al Hasan, Rashid Khan, Billy Stanlake along with captain Williamson as their four overseas players. Australia's Stanlake is making is IPL debut.

Rajasthan on the other hand have gone D’arcy Short, Ben Stokes, Jos Buttler and Ben Laughlin.

“We also wanted to bowl but the toss isn't in anyone's control. So looking forward to set a good total on board and later defend it down. We have got some good preparations back home and his boys are excited about this game,” says Rajasthan captain Rahane.

“Excited to lead the team. We have a fairly new side from previous years. Hope we start well with the ball in hand,” says Williamson.

While both teams have some exciting players on their ranks, all eyes will be on IPL’s most expensive player Ben Stokes (12.5 crores) and Afghanistan’s 19-year-old leggie Rashid Khan.

RR XI: A Rahane, D Short, S Samson, B Stokes, R Tripathi, J Buttler, K Gowtham, S Gopal, D Kulkarni, J Unadkat, B Laughlin

SRH XI: K Williamson, S Dhawan, M Pandey, D Hooda, Y Pathan, S Al Hasan, W Saha, R Khan, B Kumar, B Stanlake, S Kaul