SunRisers Hyderabad kept their&nbsp;play-off hopes alive by pulling off a well-deserved seven-run&nbsp;victory over Rajasthan Royals in a rousing IPL cricket contest&nbsp;that went to the wire at the Brabourne Stadium here today.
Riding on contrasting fifties from Shikhar Dhawan (54)&nbsp;and Eoin Morgan (68 off 28 balls), SRH posted a mammoth 201&nbsp;for 4 in 20 overs.
Chasing the formidable target, Royals lost in-form&nbsp;batsman Ajinkya Rahane (8) cheaply but a superb innings of 68&nbsp;from Steve Smith brought them back in contention. And then a&nbsp;late-order flourish from James Faulkner (30), Sanju Samson&nbsp;(21) and Chris Morris (34 not out) brought the hosts in&nbsp;touching distance of victory, which was not to be.
<img src="http://images.mid-day.com/images/images/2015/may/steve-smith-cci.jpg" alt="Steve Smith" />Rajasthan Royals' player Steve Smith en route his innings of&nbsp;68&nbsp;against SRH in Mumbai on Thursday. Pic/PTI
Morris threatened to take the game away with a flurry of&nbsp;three sixes in the 19th over bowled by Praveen Kumar (0-40)&nbsp;before Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3-44) stopped Royals short in the&nbsp;last over, in which they needed 18 runs.
This was SunRisers' fifth victory in 10 games, which took&nbsp;them to ten points and kept their hopes alive while Royals' fourth loss in 12 games means they haven't yet&nbsp;booked their final-four berth.
Put in to bat, SunRisers were off to a fine start with&nbsp;Dhawan and captain David Warner (24) stitching together a&nbsp;48-run stand.&nbsp;
It got broken in the fifth over when Warner edged his&nbsp;compatriot and opposite number Shane Watson (2-36) to&nbsp;wicket-keeper Sanju Samson.
Another useful partnership of 41 followed between Dhawan,&nbsp;who made his third half century of the competition and second&nbsp;against SunRisers, and No.3 Moises Henriques (20).
It was nipped by leg spinner Pravin Tambe (1-32), who&nbsp;clean up the Australian all-rounder while he attempted a big&nbsp;heave.&nbsp;
Morgan hit Watson for a huge six before Dhawan slog-swept&nbsp;off-spinner Deepak Hooda (0-34) over the ropes to raise his 50&nbsp;in 33 balls, while the team total swelled by 14 runs in that&nbsp;over.
But he attempted an ambitious reverse sweep off James Faulkner (1-37) soon afterwards and was castled after adding 38 runs with Morgan.
Irish-born Morgan was joined by Ravi Bopara and went on&nbsp;the offensive in the last five overs during which the score&nbsp;rattled along.&nbsp;
Morgan singled out Tambe, whose first three overs cost&nbsp;only 14 runs by carting the leg spinner for two sixes, a four&nbsp;and a couple in his last over. He lofted Faulkner for a&nbsp;straight six to reach 50 off 23 balls, a knock laced with four&nbsp;sixes and as many fours.
When Watson came on to bowl towards the end, Morgan made&nbsp;the ball soar over long on for his fifth six but then holed&nbsp;out to long off in the same over to bring to an end the&nbsp;fourth-wicket partnership with Bopara worth 53 in 20 balls.&nbsp;
Thanks to Morgan, the visiting team was able to muster 68&nbsp;runs in the last five overs and post their first plus-200&nbsp;total of the tournament and fifth overall, in which Royal&nbsp;Challengers Bangalore have two to their credit.
Chasing the imposing score, Royals were pegged back when&nbsp;the tournament's leading run getter Rahane departed for 8 off&nbsp;the sixth ball by edging Bhuvaneshwar to keeper Naman Ojha.
Eight for one turned to 30 for 2 when Watson drove Ishant&nbsp;Sharma, playing in only his second game of the season, and put&nbsp;up a tame catch to mid on.
Karun Nair, who came in at no. 4 behind Smith, could not&nbsp;replicate the way he had batted when scoring a half century&nbsp;against Delhi at this ground four days ago and chased an&nbsp;out-swinger to be caught behind off Henriques that left Royals&nbsp;a mountain to climb at 45 for 3 in the 8th over.
Smith was lucky when on 14 as his high flick towards deep&nbsp;square leg off Praveen Kumar could not be grabbed by Henriques&nbsp;despite a diving effort.
The Australian batsman, who was in superb form in his own&nbsp;country earlier this season, then showed his class as he&nbsp;cover-drove and pulled Henriques for three boundaries.&nbsp;
At the other end Deepak Hooda got out for 7 when going for a&nbsp;wild slog off Karn Sharma to bring in big-hitting Faulkner&nbsp;with Smith at 77.
Faulkner was served two juicy full-tosses by Ishant and&nbsp;dispatched both over the boundary ropes before Smith smote&nbsp;spinner Sharma for two straight-field sixes by dancing down&nbsp;the pitch - the first also enabling him to cross the half&nbsp;century mark in 32 balls. It was his second 50 of the season&nbsp;after his knock of 79 not out against Mumbai Indians at&nbsp;Ahmedabad on April 14.
Bopara struck a timely blow to stop Smith from running&nbsp;away with the game &iquest; clean bowling the batsman on an attempted&nbsp;cut shot after having been pulled for fours in two previous&nbsp;deliveries in the 15th over at the end of which Royals were&nbsp;126 for 5 &iquest; requiring 76 runs in the last five overs for&nbsp;victory.
Despite some later order hitting by Faulkner, Samson and&nbsp;most importantly by Morris, who brought down the target&nbsp;drastically in the penultimate over, but Royals fell short in&nbsp;the end.

Riding on some quality batting by Eoin Morgan and Shikhar Dhawan, Sunrisers Hyderabad scraped past Rajasthan Royals by seven runs in a close IPL encounter at the Brabourne Stadium on Thursday

IPL 8: Sunrisers Hyderabad down Rajasthan Royals to remain in play-off hunt

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Home / Sports / Cricket / Article / IPL 8: Sunrisers Hyderabad down Rajasthan Royals to remain in play-off hunt

IPL 8: Sunrisers Hyderabad down Rajasthan Royals to remain in play-off hunt

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