Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson gave credit to the Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers for the way they fought back after their one-run loss at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, Hyderabad on Thursday. SRH’s experienced seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar had to defend 13 runs in the final over and he plumed Rovman Powell in front of the wickets on the last ball when two runs were needed.
Kumar returned with impressive figures of 3-41 whereas skipper Pat Cummins and in-form T. Natarajan bagged two wickets each. Cummins bowled a terrific penultimate over against Powell, conceding only seven runs, and also dismissed Dhruv Jurel.
SRH bowlers were right on the money in the death overs, conceding only 43 runs and picking four wickets in the last five overs.
Sanju Samson said after the loss, “We have played some really close games this season, won a couple of them and lost this one. Credit to the SRH bowlers for the way they fought back. The margin of error is very less in the IPL. The game is never done till it is done.”
He added, “It was tough to bat against the new ball and when it got old, it became easier. Credit to both youngsters (Jaiswal and Parag), myself and Jos (Buttler) got out in the powerplay, they played well and got us to that position.”
Meanwhile, SRH did a fantastic job in posting 201 on the board after Nitish Kumar Reddy scored an impressive knock of 76 runs off just 42 balls. Travis Head also scored a decent knock of 58 runs off 44 balls whereas Heinrich Klaasen added a finishing touches with 19-ball 42.
On the other hand, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Riyan Parag scored 67 and 77 runs respectively but RR veered off the track at the fag end of the innings.
Rajasthan Royals will next take on Delhi Capitals at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, Delhi on Tuesday.
