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Rajasthan Royals start the IPL 2023 season with a bang as they defeat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 72 runs in Hyderabad. Captain Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Jos Buttler and Shemron Hetmyer contributed with the bat while Chahal's leg spin looked too much tricky for the orange army as we looked into what went wrong for Hyderabad in the SRH vs RR clash.
Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and elected to field on a pitch that looked great for batting. Bhuvneshwar Kumar hoped for some early help but it was not there. Jos Buttler continued his form from the last season and Yashasvi Jaiswal's domestic form started to come in handy as well.
Great start for RR | SRH vs RR
Both the RR openers attacked Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Fazalhaq Farooqi from the go. Bhuvneshwar Kumar missed a trick of not introducing Adil Rashid within the powerplay just to change things up. In spite of going for runs, Kumar decided to continue with Farooqi who went for runs. Bhuvi introduced Washington Sundar into the attack but straightaway went for boundaries against Jos Buttler. Royals crossed fifty in four overs and scored 85 in the first powerplay. Buttler completed his fifty as well in the meantime.
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Farooqi gave the first breakthrough to SRH and got the big fish Jos Buttler out for 54 from 22. The orange army hoped for things to change after that, but RR captain Sanju Samson thought differently. Sanju continued the momentum along with Jaiswal. Jaiswal perished after completing his fifty while Sanju kept on launching balls over the boundary.
Nataraj pulls things back for SRH but RR gets over 200 in the first inning
Post Jaiwal's wicket, SRH bowlers pulled things back for them with two quick wickets of Devdutt Padikkal and Riyan Parag. But, Sanju's (55 from 32) hitting ability and Shemron Hetmyer's (22 from 16) power took RR to 203 for the first time in IPL 2023. Natarajan (3-23-2) and Adil Rashid (4-33-0) were the picks of the bowlers for SRH.
Hyderabad's chase never looked in control as Trent Boult did what he does best. Boult struck early with the new ball as both Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi went back to the pavilion without troubling the scorers. A double-wicket maiden from Boult and Hyderabad could not get back from that in the entire second inning of SRH vs RR match.
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Chahal's tricks proved to be too hard for SRH batters | SRH vs RR
Mayank Agarwal and most talked about Harry Brook tried to consolidate the inning but with every over the required run rate kept on increasing. Brook could not handle a quicker one from Yuzvendra Chahal and was cleaned bowled by the Indian spinner after scoring 13 from 21. And, none could put up any resistance to Yuzi's spin after that.
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Jason Holder joined the party with Washington Sundar's wicket while Chahal kept on taking wickets from the other end. Ravi Ashwin got the better of Glenn Philips as it looked all over the place for the home team. A full house at the Rajib Gandhi International Stadium looked sad and disappointed. Mayank Agarwal tried to hold one end for Sunriseres but his plans were ruined by Chahal.
At one time, SRH looked like not getting over 100 but Abdul Samad and Umran Malik's flourish with the bat took them to 131 as Navdeep Saini went for 23 runs in the last over of the SRH vs RR match.
It was near about perfect match for Rajasthan Royals with great performances in both departments. Meanwhile, for SRH, they will be looking to forget this match as quickly as they can and focus on the next matches. Jos Buttler was named the player of the match for his 54 from 22 balls in the first inning.
What did they say after the match?
We have to just work at it and move forward. The last five-six overs in our bowling and Umran's knock at the end - they were a couple of positives. There was something in it for the slow bowlers. It is the first match of the season and there is a lot to improve. South Africans are coming back, our captain is coming back and we will be a much better batting unit. We need to execute our plans and hopefully we will get better. It was a pretty good track and like what we get in Hyderabad. We can prepare whatever we want (in terms of the pitch) but we are not too worried about that.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, SRH Captain
The way we got the start in the batting, the way Jos and Yashasvi batted…we knew 200 was a good score on this wicket. (Tussle with Brook) My plan was to vary my pace and bowl stump to stump. It is always my strength. I am doing nothing new and I am just backing my strengths. (On a possible new celebration) We will see when I get five wickets or anything, hopefully something new will come.
Yuzvendra Chahal, Rajasthan Royals
