Rajasthan Royals beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 72 runs

On Sunday at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad, the Rajasthan Royals got their Indian Premier League 2023 season off to a rousing start with a 72-run victory over the Sunrisers Hyderabad.

The Rajasthan Royals, who finished second last year, got off to a great start in the Indian Premier League by scoring 203 runs against the Hyderabad Super Kings.

The Rajasthan Royals piled up a huge 203/5 in their allotted 20 overs thanks to half-centuries from Jos Buttler (54), Yashasvi Jaiswal (54), and Sanju Samson (55). This came at the expense of Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s SRH. They did so, and in the process became the first team to score 200 runs this season.

With two wickets in his first over, Trent Boult got Royals off to a great start with the ball. Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi both went wicketless off his bowling, and the Sunrisers never recovered from that twin blow.

Sunrisers were bowled out for a disappointing 131 runs in their allotted 20 overs, while leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal concluded with brilliant figures of 4/17 in four overs.

Buttler, who has been one of Rajasthan Royals’ most reliable performances in the IPL recently, got the season off to a blazing start by smashing 54 runs—including seven fours and three sixes—from only 22 balls before being dismissed by SRH rookie Fazalhaq Farooqi.

Buttler, the England limited-overs captain, got the Royals off to a great start by hitting a six in the third over off SRH skipper Bhuvneshwar and four boundaries in the fifth over off Thangarasu Natarajan.

The opening stand of 85 runs took only 35 balls to complete, thanks in large part to Buttler’s three fours in the next over from Afghanistan’s Farooqi before the left-armer cleaned him up.

The 85 runs scored by Rajasthan Royals in the first inning was their most through six overs in IPL history and the sixth highest total for any team in the powerplay.

After losing their captain, Royals continued their charge as Samson and Jaiswal put up 54 runs for the second wicket, allowing RR to reach the century mark in the eighth over.

The Royals’ momentum waned as wickets fell at a steady clip, and they needed the penultimate delivery of their innings to finally cross the 200-mark.

Although Buttler was relentless at one end, Jaiswal had no trouble translating his outstanding play from the domestic circuit into a bright start to IPL 2023.

The left-handed batsman smashed 54 off 37 balls, including nine fours, for his fourth fifty of the tournament.

Abhishek Sharma took a brilliant catch to dismiss Jaiswal off Farooqi’s bowling in the 13th over, giving SRH their second wicket.

Captain Samson’s 55 off only 31 balls led a productive batting performance for Rajasthan Royals (3x4s, 4x6s).

If RR’s top three had fun with the bat, youthful Devdutt Padikkal (2) would not have survived the first delivery of the 15th over from Umran Malik, a 149.2 kmph thunderbolt that knocked down his off-stump.

They reached the 200-run mark thanks largely to the efforts of Shimron Hetmyer (22 not out from 16 balls, 1 four, 1 six).