|| Indian Correspondent ||

With the hope of qualifying for the playoffs, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals take on each other in a crucial encounter in Dubai on Thursday (October 22). 

After facing a crushing loss to Kolkata Knight Riders, Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner once again elected to field first. Jason Holder made his maiden appearance this season after joining the team as a replacement for the injured Mitchell Marsh. Meanwhile, Kane Williamson also sustained an injury and left-arm spinner Shahbaz Nadeem was added in place of Basil Thampi.

Robin Uthappa and Ben Stokes opened the innings for Rajasthan Royals, which showed some quick scores in the early overs. However, it didn’t last long after a bizarre mix up that saw Robin Uthappa being run-out in the fourth over. Sanju Samson, who was going through a bad phase, soon found his form with a quickfire 26-ball 36 before Jason Holder removed him.

On the other hand, Ben Stokes was seen struggling at the top of the order and got out for a 32-ball 30 run by Rashid Khan. The leg-spinner was once again ended with another stunning spell that read 1-20.

Meanwhile, T. Natarajan failed to impress as he conceded 46 runs without taking a wicket as well. After being 74-1 after 10 overs, RR failed to pace it up in the second half as they only managed 80-5. However, a late cameo by Jofra Archer (16 off 7) helped them put up 154 runs in their allotted 20 overs.

While chasing, Sunrisers Hyderabad got big blows as Jofra Archer’s fiery spell removed their in-form opening pair of David Warner and Jonny Bairstow for mere 4 and 10 respectively.

The onus fell upon the middle-order. With the absence of Williamson, Manish Pandey steadied the ship with Vijay Shankar, who was promoted to number 4. Pandey took the charge whereas Shankar played the second fiddle in the chase. Both of them took on the bowlers and hit them out of the park quite often where Pandey brought up his fifty off just 27-balls.