DUBAI (UAE): Rahul Tewatia and Riyan Parag played crucial cameos on Sunday as Rajasthan pulled off a thrilling chase against Hyderabad in Indian Premier League.
Rajasthan were 78 for five chasing 159 for victory when Tewatia, who smashed 45, and Parag, hitting 42, put on 85 runs to complete the chase with one ball and five wickets to spare in Abu Dhabi.
Brief Scores: Rajasthan Royals 163/5 (Rahul Tewatia 45*, Riyan Parag 42*; Rashid Khan 2/25) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 158/4 (Manish Pandey 54, David Warner 48; Jofra Archer 1/25) by five wickets
Warner and Manish Pandey pushed SRH past fifty in the 10th over and completed the fifty-run partnership for the second wicket in the 11th over.
SRH were looking to up the ante and in that process lost Warner in the 15th over after Archer disturbed the timber to dismiss the SRH skipper for 48.
RR almost had their third wicket in the next over, but Pandey managed to survive as Tyagi misjudged the catch. The SRH batsman then hit a six in the same over to move into the 40s and take SRH closer to 110.
Pandey, who had earlier in the day completed 3000 IPL runs, brought up his half-century in the 17th over. But, he departed in the next over as Jaydev Unadkat got the SRH batsman out for 54 with a slower delivery.
SRH, though scored 34 off the last two overs, with Kane Williamson hitting two sixes and Priyam Garg contributing with a six and a four to take their team to 158/4 at the close of 20 overs.
In the chase, RR opted to open the innings with Ben Stokes, who was playing his first game of the season after serving the mandatory quarantine, and Jos Buttler.
While the England all-rounder hit a four in the first over, he chopped one back onto the stumps in the next over as Khaleel Ahmed struck. SRH kept things tight, giving away not more than 14 runs in the first three overs.
While Jos Buttler hit a four and a six in the fourth over, RR lost Steve Smith in the same over via run-out. Buttler was the next man to get out in the next over as Khaleel picked his second wicket after Bairstow took a good low catch. (Source: IPL2020)