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Sunrisers Hyderabad 201 for 5 (Warner 69, Bairstow 45, Shankar 35, Gopal 3-27) beat Rajasthan Royals 198 for 2 (Samson 102*, Rahane 70) by five wickets
Hyderabad: David Warner, VIVO IPL’s most successful foreign batsman, celebrated the end of his 12-month ban with a stunning innings to set up Sunrisers Hyderabad’s first victory of 2019, a five-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals, also firing them to their highest successful chase in the competition’s history.
In doing so, Warner also upstaged Rajasthan Royals batsman Sanju Samson’s superb first-innings century on a night 399 runs were scored in 39 completed overs.
RR captain Ajinkya Rahane had no hesitation in electing to bat after winning the toss on a batting-friendly wicket at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad and were looking to press on right from the start.
SRH, however, had welcomed captain Kane Williamson back to the team after he missed their opening game with a shoulder injury, and made a telling contribution by introducing leg-spinner Rashid Khan in the fourth over of the innings, as he struck with the second ball of his over to bowl Jos Buttler round his legs.
SRH, however, would go on to take just one more wicket in the remaining overs as Rahane, along with Samson, put on a batting masterclass, adding 119 runs for the second wicket from just 75 balls.
The duo first settled in, rotated strike before both tore into the SRH bowlers, with Samson particularly severe on strike bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar, taking him for 24 runs in an over.
SRH needed a perfect start to their innings, and it was provided by the blade of Warner, who struck the first ball of the innings for a boundary, before tearing into every RR bowler, before Bairstow also joined in. The opening pair added 110 runs inside the first 10 overs before Warner perished, and Bairstow followed soon after for 45.
The home side had a mini-collapse in the middle overs with Williamson, Vijay Shankar and Manish Pandey falling in quick succession, but Yusuf Pathan and Rashid Khan ensured no further hiccups as the duo knocked off the remaining runs with an over to spare, made possible only by the rollicking start provided by Warner and Bairstow.
The SRH innings needed more than one batsman to fire to be able to chase down a total nearing 200, and Jonny Bairstow provided just the partnership his side needed at the start of their run chase.
Warner appeared to have farmed the strike in the first few overs, but Bairstow took on Joffra Archer’s second over by flaying him for three boundaries as SRH took 69 from the Powerplay.
Bairstow read the spin well and continued to attack from the other end, not letting the asking rate climb to ensure the run chase was on track.
By the time Bairstow was dismissed, SRH’s 10-runs-per-over asking rate had come down to 9, and the batsmen that followed were able to bring it down even further.
Rashid Khan for his all-round contribution of 1-24 with the ball and an unbeaten 15 from just 8 balls.
