New Delhi, India
Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) squared off against each other in match 5 of the IPL 2022 edition on Tuesday evening (March 30). Being asked to bat first, the Sanju Samson-led RR franchise posted a mammoth 210 for 6 in 20 overs. In reply, the RR bowlers restricted SRH to 149 for 7 as they romped past the 2016 winners courtesy an impressive 61-run win at the MCA Stadium, Pune.
From RR's perspective, the likes of Jos Buttler (35) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (20) got the franchise off to a good start before skipper Samson's 55, Devdutt Padikka's 41 and Shimron Hetmyer's 13-ball 32 propelled RR to a 200-plus total. Among their bowlers, Yuzvendra Chahal's three-fer and two wickets apiece from Trent Boult-Prasidh Krishna kept the SRH camp on the back foot from the word go.
It was a forgettable outing for SRH, who conceded plenty of no-balls, were hammered by the RR batters whereas the likes of skipper Kane Williamson, Nicholas Pooran, Rahul Tripathi, Abdul Samad, etc. all fell flat. Aiden Markram's 57*, Umran Malik (2 for 39), Washington Sundar's 14-ball 40 and Bhuvneshwar Kumar's economical spell were their only positives.
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After RR's demolition of SRH, former Indian cricketer Kris Srikkanth took to his official Twitter handle and lauded Rajasthan. Meanwhile, he also labelled SRH as a 'terrible' team and wrote,"A great outing for @rajasthanroyals ! All around super peformance and looks like a top 4 contendor! Terrible for #SRH , team composition , depth in all departments is lacking, early signs of a last 2 contender for them #SRHvRR."
A great outing for @rajasthanroyals ! All around super peformance and looks like a top 4 contendor! Terrible for #SRH , team composition , depth in all departments is lacking, early signs of a last 2 contender for them #SRHvRR
â Kris Srikkanth (@KrisSrikkanth) March 29, 2022
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At the post-match presentation, Williamson said, "We started beautifully with the ball, we had our opportunities. In all the games so far, there has been some swing and assistance with the new ball. You want to make some inroads, we looked very likely but unfortunately some fine margins in this game didn't go our way. It was a very good surface, Rajasthan played outstandingly well. For us, there's still a number of things to touch on and improve on as a side. You got to keep your chin up and move on to the next one."