Sooryavanshi special headlines Rajasthan Royals' Eliminator win
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi etched his name on a big knockout night with a scarcely-believable 29-ball 97, enabling Rajasthan Royals to post 243/8 – the second-highest total in IPL playoffs history. Jofra Archer's Powerplay spell threw SRH off course in the chase, and despite a push to play catch-up, they fell well short.
Brief Scores: Rajasthan Royals 243/8 in 20 overs (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 97 off 29, Dhruv Jurel 50 off 21; Praful Hinge 3-54) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 196 in 19.2 overs (Ishan Kishan 33 off 11, Nitish Reddy 38 off 20, Salil Arora 35 off 21; Jofra Archer 3-58, Nandre Burger 2-26) by 47 runs
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi – 97 runs, 12 sixes, another mind-bending night
On the second ball of the fourth over, Sooryavanshi hit his sixth six, taking his season's tally to 60 sixes – breaking Chris Gayle's record of 59 from 2012. On the last ball of the eighth over, he could've got to the fastest IPL 100 but found the fielder and fell for 97 off 29.
Pat Cummins moved his boundary riders around, front-loaded his best bowling options – himself, Eshan Malinga, Sakib Hussain – all in the Powerplay. None of that mattered. In the third over, Sooryavanshi hit Cummins for three sixes. In the fourth, Sakib copped the same number as Sooryavanshi got to a 16-ball 54.
He saw through Sakib's change of pace, then tonked Praful Hinge for a four and three sixes in the eighth over. He was one six away from the fastest IPL century but hit to third man, falling for 29-ball 97.
Dhruv Jurel with the baton
Even Sooryavanshi's exit didn't bring respite. Jurel went after Shivang Kumar and Cummins, scooping, pulling and driving the SRH captain in a 17-run over before taking boundaries off Malinga. His half-century came off 20 balls, but he fell off the 21st.
RR fell flat in the death overs, getting just 36 runs and losing five wickets.
Ishan Kishan flies but SRH err
Archer bounced out Abhishek Sharma in the first over. Kishan arrived with murderous intent, flicking Archer over square leg, cutting behind point and hitting two sixes. He miscued another big hit to cover.
SRH sent Smaran Ravichandran at No.4, who fell in the fourth over. Head chose to take on Archer in his third Powerplay over and perished, swinging and missing a 150.4 kmph delivery that hit off-stump. SRH dragged to 71/4 in six overs.
Yash Raj Punja stops Klaasen
Klaasen hit a jaw-dropping six off the leggie – moving outside leg-stump and hitting a length ball over extra cover. Next delivery, he missed a reverse sweep and was struck in line. A review secured the wicket.
Nitish Reddy, Salil Arora offer faint hopes
Two fours against Sushant Mishra and two sixes against Punja in an 18-run over drove SRH's chase. Arora chipped in with a flicked six and two fours off Brijesh Sharma, taking SRH to 132/5 in 10 overs.
Shivang Kumar delays the inevitable
Cummins came and went quickly. Shivang Kumar threw his bat around, suffered cramps and limped around, but SRH ended 47 runs short.
SRH are done. RR set up a Qualifier 2 clash against Gujarat Titans on May 29.
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