Sooryavanshi ton in vain as SRH gun down 229

Brief Scores: Rajasthan Royals 228/6 in 20 overs (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 103, Dhruv Jurel 51, Donovan Ferreira 33; Eshan Malinga 2-38) lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad 229/5 in 18.3 overs (Ishan Kishan 74, Abhishek Sharma 57, Nitish Kumar Reddy 36; Jofra Archer 2-34) by 5 wickets.

Vaibhav Sooryavanshi’s ton: After being dismissed first ball by Praful Hinge earlier in the season, Sooryavanshi smashed four sixes in the first over off the same bowler. He reached a 15-ball fifty and a 36-ball hundred, hitting sixes off Pat Cummins and Sakib Hussain. He was dismissed LBW trying a reverse-scoop and later helped off with a calf issue.

Ishan Kishan and Abhishek Sharma’s partnership: The duo added 132 off 55 balls for the second wicket. SRH’s 89-run Powerplay brought the asking rate under 10. Kishan hammered 74 off 31, Abhishek scored 57 off 29, despite multiple dropped catches including one by Ravindra Jadeja.

RR’s bowling and fielding: Jofra Archer was the exception with 2-34, squaring up batters and generating sharp seam movement. The rest of the attack struggled, with Brijesh Sharma losing his line. Multiple dropped catches and misfields marred RR’s effort.

RR’s other contributions: Dhruv Jurel switched gears after a slow start (27 off 25) to reach a 34-ball fifty, including a 101-metre six. Donovan Ferreira smashed three fours and six sixes off 16 balls.

SRH’s bowling recovery: Pat Cummins cleaned up Riyan Parag with a yorker and bowled at 140+ kph. Eshan Malinga conceded just five in the 19th over, and Hinge bowled four dots in the 16th, finishing with a 10-run over and the wicket of Shimron Hetmyer.

The chase: After Archer dismissed Head and Kishan, a dropped chance off Nitish Reddy (on 0) proved costly. A 20-run 17th over from Tushar Deshpande sealed the game, with Salil Arora hitting the winning six.

Next matches: RR face Punjab Kings in New Chandigarh on April 28. SRH play Mumbai Indians at Wankhede on April 29.