Despite the usual pyrotechnics from Rajasthan Royals captain Sanju Samson who made his way to the Orange Cap race lead with a blistering knock of 82 runs from 57 deliveries, Sunrisers Hyderabad did extremely well to cut off the support around him. The RR skipper was starved of meaningful partnerships and as a result, the side fell plenty of runs short of a defendable par score.
Jason Roy and Wriddhiman Saha gave Sunrisers Hyderabad a wonderful start in the powerplay – their highest score in the first six overs in IPL 2021. Rajasthan Royals bowlers couldn’t get their bearings right and after the dismissal of Saha and Roy, captain Kane Williamson steered the ship to victory with a classy half-century.
In the post-match press conference, victorious captain Kane Williamson stressed that the side wants to build on the confidence going into the last few matches of IPL 2021.
“Good feeling. We can say the performance was improved. There was clarity in roles too. Good to be on the right side. Want to build on this, want to see the younger players take their opportunity and enjoy the cricket,” Williamson said.
The New Zealand captain also heaped praise on his side’s bowling efforts which allowed them to restrict Rajasthan Royals to a chaseable total. Even though Yashasvi Jaiswal and later Sanju Samson threatened to take the game away from them at times, SRH gave a great account of themselves with the ball.
“Last two overs with the ball were critical. Sanju batted outstanding and they were looking to score more but we managed to close them into a par-ish total,” he added.
The final two overs proved to be critical in that regard as Siddharth Kaul and Bhuvneshwar Kumar conceded just 11 runs off it to deny Royals any late blast in the game. As a result, they were able to pocket the match with nine balls remaining.
The introduction of England opener Jason Roy did wonders for the side. Roy became only the second player after Shikhar Dhawan to score a half-century on his debut for Sunrisers Hyderabad. He ended up scoring 60 runs from 42 deliveries and his innings included eight boundaries and a six. Along with Saha, Roy added 57 runs for the first wicket.
“Roy is an injection of energy. He’s been on the sidelines but was always ready to go. He did what he does, great to see. Fantastic player, great contribution. We want to recover before the next game,” Kane Williamson said.
