Their home record remains unblemished in the year. When Rajasthan Royals beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets on Saturday, in the land of Maharajas they remained Royals.
Chasing a victory target of 145 against a potent bowling attack, the cerebral Royals made sure that they reigned supreme here at the Sawai Man Singh stadium in the Pink City. Cautiously going about their job under the aegis of their hero Shane Watson, unbeaten on 98 from 53 balls, they finished the job in the 18th over to win their fourth match in Jaipur.
Two Australians combined for the home side to make the win possible, one was the left-arm pacer James Faulkner who took the best figures of IPl 6 with 5 for 20 in four overs. It gave him the purple cap for the highest wicket-taker in the tournament with 16 wickets and also the Man of the Match award. He did set it up, though the Sunrisers would have been happy to reach 144 as at one point they were 29 for 6, and his country mate Watson did the finishing act to give the hosts their fifth win from eight matches and a third position on the table.
Even if he had scored a hundred in the last tie, Royals chose to open with Ajinkya Rahane and captain Rahul Dravid, perhaps to see-off opposition’s main strength Dale Steyn. Though Steyn got the wicket of Rahane early on, a watchful Watson and his captain gradually started to build the innings and chase down the target in phases. They were just 21 for one at the end of fifth over bowled by Steyn. The only excitement till that part from Rajasthan’s batting was the South African fast-man working up pace close to 150, beating Watson once while the Australian obliging with a cut-shot for a boundary.
The captain-vice-captain duo continued in the same manner, taking 32 from the next five to take the score to 53 for 1 in 10 overs. Now, they had to score 92 from the next ten. Two sixes off Amit Mishra’s leg-spins, one by Dravid over long-on and the other by Watson over long-leg on a short-pitched delivery, to go with some singles and a double got them to 70 in 11. Then, Dravid fell in the 13th over after combining for a 74-run stand with Watson and making 36 out of them but Watson had decided to push the accelerator.
When he was 49 not out in 38 balls, Ishant Sharma came to bowl and the Australian, though lucky once as he edged but Sunrisers’s captain and wicket-keeper Kumar Sangakkara could not take the catch, took 19 from the over (three fours and a six) to take the hosts ahead and also complete his fifty. Then two fours and a six in the next over from Thisara Perera and a similar scoring in the 18th, meant that within a space of 15 balls, Watson had doubled his score from 49 to 98.
It also meant that Rajasthan had reached from 89 for two in 14 overs to 145 for 2 in 17.5. Simply put, they had scored 58 from 23 balls and victory was accomplished.
Earlier, at 29 for six with their premier batsman, Sangakkara, Shikhar Dhawan and Thisara Perera, in the hut, it seemed a case of having anything on the board for the Sunrisers and avoid having the ignominy of the lowest score in the Indian Premier league, 58, made by Rajasthan in 2009.
Their top-order read a disastrous 2, 0, 4, 4, 6 and 4. Wrecker -in-chief Faulkner and opening bowler Ajit Chandila combined to break the Hyderabad back with five wickets in the first five overs with only 19 on the board.
Sunrisers were looking to play their shots early on and Rajasthan made the most of the opportunities that came their way. In just the second over, Sangakkara tried to drive a Faulkner delivery, which was pitched up and just outside the off-stump, but got an edge and Watson at slips did the rest. In the same over, Dhawan tried to cut a short-pitched delivery only to be caught smartly by Rahane at point. His third wicket was Karan Sharma, the batsman tried to pull a short one but a leading edge took the ball to Brad Hodge at fine-leg.
Chandila once again played on the batsman’s mind and got the better of opener Akshath Reddy and all-rounder Thisars Perera. Both batsmen tried to play forcing shots but Reddy got an edge straight into the hands of Watson while Perera was caught at long-on by Kevon Coooper.
Darren Sammy and Amit Mishra then came together in a fruitful partnership of 58 in eight overs for the visitors to put some logic into their innings. Sammy once again showed his importance as a lower-order batsman with a fighting 60 from 41 deliveries when it mattered the most for his team. Eight boundaries and a solitary six embellished his effort while Mishra’s 21 helped the team’s cause.
But Faulkner’s return for a second spell resulted in both scalps, Sammy’s was an lbw on his final ball which gave him the five-for and his 16th wicket in the ongoing IPl edition.
Hosts next face the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday but for now their home winning streak is intact.
Brief Scores
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 144 for 9 in 20 overs (Darren Sammy 60; James Faulkner 5/20) lost to Rajasthan Royals: 146 for 2 in 17.5 overs (Shane Watson 98 not out, Rahul Dravid 36) by 8 wickets.