Manish Pandey’s unbeaten 83 off just 47 balls and his mammoth 140-run partnership with Vijay Shankar (52 not out off 51) helped Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Rajasthan Royals by eight wickets in Dubai on Thursday.
The choice to bowl first in the wake of winning the throw went in the kindness of SRH commander David Warner as his bowlers ruled the procedures. RR opener Robin Uthappa glanced in fine structure as he dashed up to 19 off 13 balls before getting pursued out a horrendous misunderstanding with his accomplice Ben Stokes. SRH bowlers kept things tight to guarantee Sanju Samson and Stokes couldn't go all out against them.
Samson scored 36 off 26 balls while Stokes scored 30 off 32 balls to include 56 runs for the subsequent wicket. RR lost the plot in the center overs after Samson and Stokes were excused with hardly a pause in between in the twelfth and thirteenth over separately. Riyan Parag's late appearance of 12-ball 20 and Jofra Archer's 7-ball 16 pushed them to 154 after any semblance of Jos Buttler (9) and Steve Smith (19) neglected to convey.
‘It was a stunning performance’
After the match, Warner expressed immense happiness following the performances of Manish and Shankar. The Australian cricketer added that he was “chuffed” for the duo.
“For them to come out and play like this, I am so happy for them. They showed they can build a platform for us to get across the line. Or set a big total. I am chuffed for them,” said the SRH skipper during the post-match press conference.
Warner further described the team performance as “stunning”, hailing the triumph as the kind of game they were “asking for”.
“It was a stunning performance. Starts with the toss where you (broadcaster Mark Nicholas) questioned my decision to chase. We were able to bring them back after Powerplay. All in all, the kind of game we were asking for,” he added.