Chaotic finish
Well well well. this is what happens every now and then in T20s. And there is no explanation for it. Except that it is just 40 overs, and if you have one bad over, that constitutes a sizeable chunk. That's what happened with RR. We leave you with a teaser from our report. Thanks for joining us.
Till the 19th over of the chase, the highest Rajasthan Royals let the asking rate in a 202 chase was 10.88, which was at the end of the first over. And yet, Sunrisers Hyderabad won by one run. Pat Cummins bowled a superb 19th over followed by Bhuvneshwar Kumar successfully defending 12 in the final over despite the over-rate penalty giving them one fewer boundary rider. Even until the last ball, RR remained the favourites, needing two to win, but Rovman Powell missed a calf-high full toss to be out lbw. It was Bhuvneshwar who got their defence to a great start, removing Jos Buttler and Sanju Samson in the first over, but Yashasvi Jaiswal and Riyan Parag made the chase look easy with their fifties. When Jaiswal fell, they needed 67 off 39; when Parag left, they needed 43 off 25. Shimorn Hetmyer and Powell looked like cruising it, and then two hits went straight to the fielders, and Cummins swooped in.
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SRH win by one run
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What a finish we have had. Rovman Powell played it smart, exploiting the extra fielder inside the circle, but with two needed off the last ball, he misses a full toss and is out lbw. This is what makes T20 exciting. Sometimes it takes just one over to lose a match you have dominated. That's what has happened here. Two shots hit straight to fielders, and all of a sudden it all slips away.
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We are having a grandstand finish
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Pat Cummins has bowled a superb 19th over to give SRH 12 to defend in the last over. Rovman Powell failed to get bat on ball three balls in a row, but ended the over with a six over cover.
SRH are bowling the last over with only four men outside the circle because of their slow over-rate.
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What is up?
Oh these are signs. Dhruv Jurel has drilled a leg-stump half-volley straight down the throat of deep square leg. Now it is 20 off 11 as Rovman Powell is stuck at the other end. In comes R Ashwin.
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Is there a twist left?
On the face of it, it looks like a regulation chase, but Shimron Hetmyer has hit a low full toss straight down the throat of long-on, and they still need 21 off 14. Dhruv Jurel has come out to bat: remember he injured himself while fielding.
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SRH stayin' alive
This has been a bit of a cruise for RR but SRH have managed a timely wicket once again. Pat Cummins has got rid of Riyan Parag for 77 off 49. He is just too close to the pitch of the ball, and finds long-on. RR 160 for 4 in 16 overs. The asking rate is still barely over 10.
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Jaiswal goes
Just like Travis Head did in the first innings, Yyashasvi Jaiswal has played on a ramp onto his wicket. He is gone for 67 off 40. SRH get a glimmer of hope even though RR will back themselves to chase 67 off 39.
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Fifty for Jaiswal and Parag
This has been an innings of high quality. He has managed to hit behind square on the off side even when he has been denied room. The high point was the pinpoint Marco Jansen yorker that he steered away for four. He has got to the fifty in 30 balls.
Riyan Parag has matched him stroke for stroke. In fact he was the initial aggressor after two wickets fell in the first over. His pull off Cummins for a huge six was special too. He has got there in 31 balls. It is 111 for 2 in 11 overs.
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Parag, Jaiswal hit on regardless
SRH got off to a dream start, getting two wickets in the first over, that too two big ones. And yet RR have 60 in six overs. Riyan Parag and Yashasvi Jaiswal have been on a rampage despite that start. Both have also been reprieved: Jaiswal by Cummins at mid-off and Parag by Abhishek at extra cover. Jaiswal is 32 off 18, Parag 26 off 16.
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Jaiswal takes apart Cummins
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Pat Cummins' first over after having dropped Yashasvi Jaiswal earlier in the piece. RR 50 for 2 in five overs
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India selection curse
Here is how the players going to the World CUp have fared in their first performance since the announcement.
Rohit 4(5)
Surya 10 (6)
Hardik 0 (1)
Dube 0 (1)
Jadeja 2 (4)
Arshdeep 1/52
Chahal 0/62
Samson 0 (3)
The man who has beaten the jinx is Jasprit Bumrah. And now all eyes on Yashasvi jaiswal.
PS: This signifies nothing.
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First-over firestarter
46 Number of wickets Bhuvneshwar Kumar has taken in the first over of T20 matches. Only Shaheen Shah Afridi has more with 47. In the IPL, he is level with Boult at the top.
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Bhuvneshwar on fire
Bhuvneshwar Kumar follows up the Buttler wicket with an inswinger to knock over Sanju Samson, leaving RR at 1 for 2 in one over. And it has come after an outswinger. Just goes in late, leaving Samson no chance.
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Golden duck for Buttler
7 Number of times Bhuvneshwar Kumar has got Jos Buttler out in all T20 cricket, this time first ball. Bhvneshwar to Buttler: 92 balls, 104 runs, seven wickets
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Klaasen matches a sixes record too
31 Number of sixes Heinrich Klaasen has hit in this IPL, joint-highest for SRH with David Warner in 2016. The overall record belongs to Chris Gayle, who hit 59 sixes in 2012.
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Reddy matches SRH sixes record
8 Number of sixes Nitish Reddy hit, joint-highest for an SRH batter in an IPL innings. Head and Klaasen feature at the top with him
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Klaasen pushes SRH past 200
It is only the second time RR have conceded 200 this IPL, but the fifth score of 200 or more for SRH. It looked like it would be a big struggle for SRH the way it started. The ball gripped in the surface, which was slow to begin with. They were 48 for 2 in eight overs, which means the last 12 overs got them 153 runs.
In the end, Klaasen took them past 200 with 42 off 19 just as Reddy started to lose gas towards the end. It was a crafty knock from Klaasen as the RR bowlers all bowled well to their plans, but he managed to still get boundaries off them by walking across the stumps and sweeping or ramping them. Reddy ended on 72 off 42.
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Chahal's second-worst analysis
62 Number of runs Yuzvendra Chahal is taken for in his four overs for no wickets. He has only one worse analysis: 4-0-64-0 against South Africa in Centurion in 2018. SRH 162 for 3 in 17 overs.
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Ashwin struggles against RHB
12 Number of runs Ashwin conceded to left-hand batters in 15 balls, but still ended up with figures of 4-0-36-0 with Nitish Reddy taking 22 off him in eight balls.
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Reddy gets to 50 off 30
Explosive take-off after a slow start from Nitish Kumar Reddy. He was 5 off 10 at one point, but has brought up the fifty off 30 balls. His hitting down the groun d has been powerful both off pace and spin.
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Head finally falls
Dropped first ball off the match, reprieved by the third umpire one ball ago when his bat was clearly in the air when the bails lit up, Travis Head has played Avesh Khan onto his middle stump when trying to ramp a wide yorker. He is gone for 57 off 44. Just couldn't kick on after the fifty even though Nitish Kumar Reddy has been on a rampage. SRH 131 for 3 in 15 overs.
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Reddy joins in
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Nitish Kumar Reddy has taken apart the 13th over, bowled by Yuzvendra Chahal. The two dots in that over are two failed reverse-sweeps. Then again he nailed one at the end of the over. It's 113 for 2 in 12.
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Fifty for Head
There has been some grip in the pitch, which has been slow, and it hasn't been easy against a well-oiled bowling unit. So Travis Head has had to curb his instincts a little, but he hasn't remained slow for long, bringing up his fifty in 37 balls. He was 17 off 19 at one point so he has scored 33 off the last 18 balls.
SRH 92 for 2 in 12 overs.
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Head finally opens up
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It starts with a slight dragdown that Travis Head pulls over deep midwicket, and then the scoring opportunities arise. The nin th over, bowled by Yuzvendra Chahal, has finally got the SRH innings going. They are 66 for 2 in nine overs.
Dhruv Jurel, meanwhile, is off the field with what looks like a hamstring pull.
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A triple-ton for Chahal
300 Number of T20 matches for Yuzvendra Chahal, who has come on to bowl immediately after the powerplay
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SRH's slowest powerplay
37 Number of runs SRH have scored in the powerplay, their lowest this IPL, beating the 40 for 3 they managed against PBKS in the 23th match of this IPL
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Another first baller
Anmolpreet Singh has almost repeated his dismissal against CSK. Early into closing the bat face, and this time a chip to midwicket to give Sandeep Sharma a first-ball wicket. It's 35 for 2 in 5.1 overs.
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Avesh gets Abhishek
Boult and Ashwin slow-roast the dish, and Avesh Khan has swooped in and scooped it. This is proper capitalisation on the good work done by the opening bowlers. Avesh follows the same strategy: two men out on the pull and no room. Caught at deep midwicket. It's 25 for 1 in 4.1 overs.
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Still struggling to break free
We saw CSK stifle the SRH openers with a sweeper each on the off side and on side. In fact both the openers were caught by the sweeper on the off side. RR have arrived with a different theory. Boult has two men out on the leg side, and has denied them any room. SRH 21 for 0 in three overs.
And Ashwin follows it with an exceptional over where he comes close to getting a wicket three times. One is an umpire's call on an lbw review, one beats the outside edge and misses the top of the stumps by milimetres, and the third turn pasts the outside edge. It's 25 for 1 in four overs.
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Boult nearly gets a wicket first ball
Almost a 27th first-over wicket for Trent Boult as Travis Head square-drives him in the air, but Riyan Parag has dropped him at backward point. It is apparently the fifth catch Parag has dropped this IPL.
And while he may have lost out to Boult, R Ashwin is on in the second over. It was expected. Abhishek Sharma hits one six off Ashwin, but the rest of the over produces just singles and dots. SRH 14 for 0 after two overs.
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Will Ashwin take the first over?
It's a no-brainer really that R Ashwin will come into the game early given how hot the two left-hand openers of SRH have been. However, Trent Boult is used to giving RR great starts with the brand-new ball. So does Ashwin take the first over ahead of Boult or do they see how Boult goes and then throw the ball to Ashwin? We will soon find out.
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SRH choose to bat
Well the record has finally shown in SRH's decision-making. Sunrisers Hyderabad have finally won a toss and gone ahead and chosen to bat first. Even RR say they would have batted first.
A massive roar from the crowd as the coin comes down SRH's way. Big news amid the noise is that Aiden Markram has been left out for Marco Jansen. Looking at how Markram is among the Impact Subs, it is fair to say he has been dropped.
RR's first XI has only three overseas players in Trent Boult, Rovman Powell and Shimron Hetmyer, which means Jos Buttler will come in when they start chasing.
Sunrisers Hyderabad Abhishek Sharma, TM Head, Anmolpreet Singh, K Nitish Kumar Reddy, H Klaasen†, Abdul Samad, Shahbaz Ahmed, M Jansen, PJ Cummins*, B Kumar, T Natarajan
Impact Subs Umran Malik, Mayank Markande, Aiden Markram, Sanvir Singh, Jaydev Unadkat
Rajasthan Royals YBK Jaiswal, R Powell, SV Samson*†, R Parag, SO Hetmyer, DC Jurel, R Ashwin, TA Boult, Avesh Khan, Sandeep Sharma, YS Chahal
Impact Subs Jos Buttler, Tom Kohler-Cadmore, Shubham Dubey, Navdeep Saini, Tanush Kotian
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Second-best bowling side against second-best batting side
Match 50. A nice little milestone on the way to the playoffs. It's SRH against RR. SRH have been breaking records with the bat, and have the second-best run-rate. RR have been an all-round side, and have the second-best economy rate.
Both are rare sides that don't mind batting first. SRH have a win-loss ratio of 4 batting first; RR have won two out of three. It's when chasing that RR have won all their nine games whereas SRH have struggled, winning one and losing three.
Mouthwatering contest then.
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