|| Indian Correspondent ||

The 26th match of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) witnessed a nail-biting fight between Rajasthan Royals (RR) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH). RR won the game with one ball to spare courtesy Rahul Tewatia and Riyan Parag’s stunning knocks. 

SRH captain David Warner elected to bat first after winning the toss. Vijay Shankar came in the team in place of Abdul Samad. On the other hand, RR captain steve Smith named four changes to the team that faced a defeat against Delhi Capitals. Ben Stokes played his maiden IPL game of 2020 edition. He came in place of Andrew Tye. Apart from Stokes, the other players came in the playing eleven were Jaydev Unadkat, Robin Uthappa and Riyan Parag.

Meanwhile, Rajasthan Royals made sure they strict the opponent in the powerplay, courtesy a fiery spell from Jofra Archer. While they managed to put up only 26 runs, Jonny Bairstow got out at the deep following a struggling knock of 16.

Then, Manish Pandey and David Warner stitched a 73-run partnership for the second wicket. Despite being slow, they built a solid foundation for the team. While Warner missed out on his half-century by mere 2 runs after Archer bowled him, Manish Pandey smashed his second fifty of the tournament. Along with them, a death over knock from Kane Williamson and Priyam Garg lifted SRH to a decent total of 158-4 on the board in their allotted 20 overs.

On the other hand, RR made some changes in the opening pair. Ben Stokes opened the chase along with his national teammate Jos Buttler. While he started with an early boundary, he failed to stay at the crease for a long time as Khaleel Ahmed’s length delivery bowled him out for mere 5.

Their top-order once again failed to contribute as the captain Steve Smith soon joined Stokes in the dugout following a run-out. The pressure fell upon the middle order when things became worse following Buttler’s dismissal that reduced them to 26-3 in the fifth over as well.

Howveer, Sanju Samson and Robin Uthappa tried their best to build a partnership. They added 37 runs before Rashid Khan successfully broke the stand by trapping Uthappa before the stump for just 18. The leg-spinner struck again in his next over and removed Sanju Samson for 26.