Rajasthan Royals secure clinical win over Sunrisers Hyderabad

Opting to bowl in a mustwin match Rajasthan first restricted Sunrisers to 160 for eight and then chased down the target in 191 overs By virtue of this win Rajasthan have now moved to the sixth position in the eightteam standings with 10 points from 12 gamesBut to stay in contention for a playoff berth Rajasthan first must win their remaining two away games against Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 30 and Delhi Capitals on May 4 and then hope for favourable results from other matchesDespite the loss Sunrisers have just managed to hold to their fourth place in the table with 10 points from 11 games Chasing 161 Liam Livingstone 44 off 26 and Ajinkya Rahane 39 off 34 got Rajasthan off to a flying start with the former taking the attack to the opposition The duo raced off to 78 off 55 balls for the opening wicket picking up 60 runs off the first six powerplay overs before Livingstone perishedLivingstone was in a murderous mood as he didnt spare single Rajasthan bowler and struck four boundaries and three sixes during his explosive knock before departing in the 10th over edging one to Wriddhiman Saha behind the stumps off Rashid Khans 130 bowlingAn over later Rajasthan suffered yet another blow in the form of Rahane caught by David Warner at longoff off Shakib Al Hasan 126 Then Sanju Samson 48 not out off 32 and skipper Steve Smith 22 held fort and shared 55 runs in 53 overs to take Rajasthan within sniffing distance of win before the latter departedBut by that time the damage had already been done for Sunrisers as Samson and Ashton Turner completed the formalities with easeEarlier Manish Pandey hit a quick halfcentury before Sunrisers witnessed a middleorder collapse to be restricted to 160 for eight Sent into bat Sunrisers got off too a good start even after the early dismissal of skipper Kane Williamson 13 with Warner and Manish Pandey sharing 75 runs off just 50 balls for the second wicket before losing the plot after the halfway stageNicely placed 103 for one after 12 overs Sunrisers lost their next seven wickets for just 44 runs before Rashid 17 not out off 8 played a short cameo towards the end to take the visitors to the 160run markSunrisers lost Williamson early cleaned up by Shreyas Gopal 230 with a googly in the fourth overWarner and Pandey then joined hands and played aggressively to stabilise the Sunrisers inningsWhile Pandey was the aggressor of the two Warner played the second fiddlePandey reached his fifty in 27 balls with the help of eight fours but just when the partnership was looking threatening a brilliant catch by Smith sent Warner packingWarner backed away a long way and tried to slap an Oshane Thomas 228 short delivery over extra cover but didnt time the shot perfectly and Smith ran back and dived full length to his right to hold on to a beautiful catchWarners innings was a struggle as he scored 37 off 32 balls but failed to hit a single boundaryPandey continued his aggressive instinct and lofted Gopal over extra cover for an exquisite boundary But the legspinner hand the last laugh as he dismissed Pandey in the very next ball brilliantly caught by Samson as Sunrsiers slumped to 121 for three after 15 oversPandey made a fine 61 off 36 balls with the help of nine boundaries Vijay Shankar 8 too perished cheaply caught by Jaydev Unadkat off Varun Aaron 236 in the next over as the batsman went for a big shotWickets kept on tumbling for Sunrisers after a fine first wicket stand between Warner and Pandey The next to depart was Deepak Hooda for a duck caught onehanded off his own bowling by Unadkat 226 in the next overBut Rashid took the onus on himself and garnered 18 runs off Aarons final over to take Sunrisers to a respectable totalCatch up on all the latest T20 news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates