Sunrisers Hyderabad opened their account in VIVO IPL 2018 in grand style after they defeated the returning Rajasthan Royals by nine wickets at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad last night. SRH, after winning the toss and opting to field, were clinical with the ball and in the field, and restricted the visitors to a paltry 125-9. In the latter part of the match, Shikhar Dhawan made lightwork of the chase, helping himself to a half-century. His unbeaten 121-run second-wicket partnership with captain Kane Williamson took SRH across the line in the 16th over.
Earlier in the Rajasthan Royals’ innings, Sanju Samson’s was the only knock of note. The 23-year old started off briskly, scoring 35 off the first 25 balls he faced, but then slowed down, and eventually perished for 49 (made from 42 balls) while attempting to break loose. The RR innings played out similarly too; the team got off to a brisk start posting 48-1 in the powerplay, but the wheels came off the innings in the middle overs when they lost wickets in clusters. RR could only add 77 runs in the 14 overs after the fielding restrictions were relaxed – not a single six was hit in the entire RR innings.