Sunrisers Hyderabad rise above Rajasthan through a clinical show

 By K.R. Nayar

Jofra Archer’s pace and Manish Pandey’s batting were a treat in the battle of the two teams to reach the playoff stage

It was a clash between two teams at the Dubai International Stadium on Thursday to keep alive their chances of reaching the play-off stage. And for that, both teams needed to give their best and rise to the challenge. Sunrisers Hyderabad rose to the occasion by producing a clinical performance to crush Rajasthan Royals by eight wickets.

Rajasthan had a good start in their batting as well as in their bowling but paid the price for not able to sustain the momentum and push for a win. In the first ten overs, Rajasthan looked to be in control and cruising towards a good total. They were well placed at 74 for 1. But from the 11th to the 20 over, they could muster only 80 runs and lost five wickets in the process. Had their star allrounder Jofra Archer not hit the last ball of the innings for a six, they would not have crossed the 150 run-mark.

Archer also bagged two crucial wickets, that of Hyderabad skipper David Warner and the dangerous Jonny Bairstow, through sheer accurate pace for a promising start. It was a splendid display of a pacer at his best and how deadly he can be when in rhythm. Warner, one of the world’s finest openers, got beaten with Archer’s first two deliveries and edged the third over the slips. With the fourth delivery, Archer forced Warner to edge to Ben Stokes at second slip.  Then in his second over, Archer clean bowled Bairstow with a 149kmph delivery. It was a splendid sight to see the ball beat the bat, go through the gate, and hit the stumps. Strangely, the pace show was suddenly put to an end with Rajasthan skipper Steve Smith taking him off the attack! As a result, Manish Pandey and Vijay Shankar quickly settled down since none of the other Rajasthan bowlers were effective. After Archer’s show, it was Pandey’s brilliant execution of strokes.  He launched his shots with immaculate timing.  Shankar played second fiddle, and eventually, together they took the game away from Rajasthan.

While Smith committed wrong moves, Warner took intelligent decisions. He introduced West Indies skipper Jason Holder in place of an injured Kane Williamson. Holder thanked his captain by producing an off-cutter that outsmarted Sanju Samson and hit his stumps. He then went on to remove Smith and Riyan Parag to prevent Rajasthan from putting up a difficult target.

Though this win, Hyderabad has equaled Rajasthan with eight points having played one match less than them. From now on, a shrewder captaincy and intelligent use of skills from players becomes vital.