Contrasting fifties from Jason Roy and skipper Kane Williamson helped Sunrisers Hyderabad notch up a seven-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals in an IPL 2021 match, in Dubai.
Playing his first match of the season, Roy scored a 42-ball 60 (8 fours, one six) to set up the 165-run chase, in the company of Wriddhiman Saha (18), as the duo put on 50-odd runs in the first five overs.
Williamson (51*) played a sensible innings to see his team home – their second win this season. Though Priyam Garg was out for a duck, young Abhishek Sharma (21*) ensured there were no further hiccups in the run chase.
Earlier, RR skipper Sanju Samson produced a well-calculated 82-run knock on the sluggish track to help Rajasthan Royals reach 164/5.
It is second consecutive fifty for Samson after conjuring up an unbeaten 70 against Delhi Capitals on Saturday.
The captain hit seven fours and three sixes in his impressive 57-ball innings, with which he became the leading run-scorer (433) of the season, surpassing Delhi Capitals' Shikhar Dhawan (430).
Yashasvi Jaiswal (36) and Mahipal Lomror (29 not out), who struggled with big shots, were the other two batters to provide some support to Samson.
With the skipper in fine form, RR looked set for a 180-par score, but the SRH bowlers, led by Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/28) and Siddarth Kaul (2/36), gave away just 11 runs in the final two overs to pull things back.
Kaul bowled a great last over, dismissing Samson and Riyan Parag (0) to restrict the Royals to 164 after being hit for 20 runs in his third over.
In the end, it proved to be the difference as the SRH team won the match with nine balls to spare.
