IPL 2020, Match 40: SRH cruise past RR to stay alive in playoff race

IPL 2020, Match 40, Sun Risers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals - Sun Risers Hyderabad won by 8 wickets

Thursday, Dec 22, 2020, Dubai International Cricket Stadium, Dubai

Sunrisers Hyderabad did not put a foot wrong in this must-win encounter against Rajasthan Royals to remain alive in the playoff race. RR had the chance of breaking into the top 4 with a victory in this game but they failed to grab it with both hands with a failed batting performance.

Image Credits: IPL / BCCI

After being sent into bat first, they lost opener Robin Uthappa as run out who committed a self mistake - ran half of the pitch when there was no single and he has no time to backup! Another opener Ben Stokes batted for a while but struggled to time his shots to perfection. He was cleaned up by Rashid Khan after scoring just 30 runs off 34 deliveries. Sanju Samson at No. 3 scored a brisk 36 off 26 deliveries to help Royals score at a good rate during the middle overs.

Riyan Parag scored 20 runs off 12 deliveries and Jofra Archer scored an unbeaten 16* off 7 deliveries and that helped Royals to get to a par total of 154/6 in 20 overs. Among SRH bowlers, Jason Holder who replaced injured Kane Williamson in this game bagged 3 wickets while Vijay Shankar and Rashid Khan accounted for a wicket each.

During the chase, SRH lost both their openers inside three overs. Archer bagged both these wickets as Sunrisers were down to 16/2 in 2.4 overs. At that stage, SRH looked to be in deep trouble. However, Manish Pandey along with Vijay Shankar stitched an unbeaten 140-run stand for the third wicket to take them home with 8 wickets in hand and 11 balls to spare in their innings. In this much-needed victory for SRH, Manish scored an unbeaten 83* runs off 47 deliveries while Vijay scored an unbeaten 52* off 51 deliveries.

Manish Pandey bagged the ‘Player of the Match’ award for his unbeaten half-century in this crucial victory. With this victory, SRH moved up two places to fifth position with 8 points while Rajasthan Royals moved down one place to seventh place in the points table.

Brief Scores: Sun Risers Hyderabad - 156/2 in 18.1 overs (Manish Pandey - 83*, Vijay Shankar - 52*, Jofra Archer - 2/21) defeated Rajasthan Royals - 154/6 in 20 overs (Sanju Samson - 36, Ben Stokes - 30, Jason Holder - 3/33, Rashid Khan - 1/20) by a margin of 8 wickets