Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson was delighted after his team defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 61 runs at the Maharashtra Cricket Association Stadium, Pune on Tuesday.
Samson continued his love affair of scoring runs in the team’s first match of the season after he scored a blistering knock of 55 runs off just 27 balls to help his team post 210 runs on the board.
Samson was able to hit the ground running as he timed the ball to perfection and took the attack on the opposition bowlers from the word go. The flamboyant batter scored three fours and five sixes in his fine knock as he scored his runs at a strike rate of more than 200. Thus, he was awarded the Player of the Match.
Rajasthan Royals were given a decent start as Jos Buttler and Yashasvi Jaiswal added 58 runs in the powerplay overs. Samson added 73 runs with Devdutt Padikkal, who scored a good knock of 41 runs before he was beaten for pace by Umran Malik.
Sanju Samson said in the post-match presentation, “I think it was a different wicket than what we thought. The wicket was helping the fast bowlers if you hit the typical Test match lengths. No long time goals. Happy to contribute to the team’s victory. I worked on my fitness. I chose the right scoring oppurtunities. Tried to spend time in the wicket. Leaders like Sangakkara help me a lot. A lot of cricketing brains has gone in to pick the right side. This season we have come in with great dreams. Our owners take great care of us. Lot of good sides and we will take one game at a time.”
On the other hand, Rajasthan Royals bowlers came up with a fine bowling show as they restricted the opposition at 149-7 in the 20 overs to win by a big margin. Prasidh Krishna and Trent Boult breathed down the neck of the SRH batters with bounce and swing respectively. Krishna returned with impressive figures of 2-16 while Boult took 2-23 in his quota of four overs.
Krishna said after the game, “There was some good bounce and seam. Hitting those hard lengths was helping me. We were speaking outside when Jos got out. He said it was tough to hit off good lengths. Tried to hit those areas. It’s usually the captain thinking from the team’s perspective, and the bowler thinking about how he’s feeling and what he can impact for the team. We get together and speak about the decision. Boulty bowled really well, the pressure he put helped me pick up a couple of wickets. Had a couple of practice games. Everybody’s had a good hit, had a good bowl.”
Rajasthan Royals will next lock horns against Mumbai Indians at the Dr. DY Patil Sports Academy, Mumbai on Saturday.
