Highlights of SRH vs. RR, IPL 2023

Highlights of SRH vs. RR, IPL 2023: In a one-sided match on Sunday in Hyderabad, the Rajasthan Royals defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by a massive 72 runs to begin their 2023 Indian Premier League campaign on a winning note.

Jos Buttler (54), Yashasvi Jaiswal (54), and captain Sanju Samson (55) each scored half-centuries to propel Rajasthan Royals to a massive 203 for 5 batting first. After that, Trent Boult (4-1-21-2) and Yuzvendra Chahal (4-0-17-4) broke through SRH's batting line-up and shared six wickets to win the game decisively.

While Jason Holder returned with figures of 3-0-16-1 and Ravichandran Ashwin recorded 4-0-27-1, SRH could only manage 131 for 8 in 20 overs in pursuit of 204.

The only bright spot for SRH in the top order was Mayank Agarwal's 27 (23 balls, 3x4s), and debutant Harry Brook, playing his first IPL game, managed 13 (21 balls, 1x4s) before Chahal got the better of him.

In the first over, Boult rocked SRH twice, catching Abhishek Sharma (0) in the third ball and catching Rahul Tripathi brilliantly on his left on first slip, resulting in a two-ball duck.

As omnipresent RR continued to make inroads, SRH never recovered from its poor start.

Holder got rid of Washington Sundar (1) in the ninth over, and Brook lost in the seventh.

In the tenth over, while Ashwin had Glenn Phillips (8) got by KM Asif, Chahal finished Agarwal's opposition in the following over to seal the game for his side.

Adbul Samad, an impactful replacement for SRH, remained unbeaten with a run-a-ball of 32, and RR's Navdeep Saini bowled two costly overs for 34 runs, giving away 23 runs in the game's final over.

Earlier, the runner-up team from last year, RR, got off to a rollicking start, scoring 203 for five against the Bhuvneshwar Kumar-led SRH in their own backyard for the highest total of the season thus far.

They also became the first team to surpass 200 runs in the process.

Buttler, who has been a consistent performer for RR in the IPL over the past few years, had a sensational start, scoring a 22-ball 54 with seven fours and three sixes before SRH debutant Fazalhaq Farooqi ended his assault.

After SRH stand-in skipper Bhuvneshwar chose to bowl, Buttler made it a perfect start for the Royals with a six off Bhuvneshwar in the third over and four boundaries off T Natarajan in the fifth over.

In the following over, Afghanistan's Farooqi hit three more fours before the left-armer cleaned him up and ended the first stand with 85 runs in 35 balls.

In addition to being their highest score in the first six overs in IPL history, RR's 85 for one was the sixth highest powerplay total ever.

The excusal, in any case, meaningfully affected RR's charge as their captain Samson collaborated with Jaiswal to add 54 runs for the subsequent wicket, with the group crossing the 100-run mark in the eighth over.

However, RR lost some steam with frequent wicket falls, and it took them until the penultimate ball of the innings to reach 200.

Jaiswal was able to effortlessly transition from his form on the domestic circuit to making a strong start to the IPL 2023, whereas Buttler was brutal on one end.

The left-handed batter scored 54 runs on 37 balls with nine hits to the fence, which was his fourth fifty in the contest.

Farooqi took the SRH second wicket in the 13th over, and Abhishek Sharma caught Jaiswal well to end his innings.

Overall, RR had a successful batsman's performance, as captain Samson struck 55 off 31 balls (3x4s, 4x6s).

Young Devdutt Padikkal (2) had no answer for Umran Malik's 149.2 kmph thunderbolt in the first delivery of the 15th over, which sent his off-stump flying, even though RR's top three made merry with the bat.

While Shimron Hetmyer (22 not out from 16 balls, 1x4s, 1x6s) got them past 200, Riyan Parag (7) died early.

Bhuvneshwar (3-0-36-0), SRH's stand-in captain for the game, would have reconsidered his decision to bowl first had four of their six bowlers given away more than 10 runs per over.

Farooqi took 2/41 from his four overs, while Natarajan finished with 3-0-23-2.

Adil Rashid of England took no wickets but bowled a controlled 4-0-33-0 innings.