Rajasthan Royals (RR) opened their IPL 2022 campaign in a grand fashion as they humiliated Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 61 runs at the MCA Stadium in Pune on Tuesday (March 29).
Asked to bat first, RR piled up a massive 210/6 in their 20 overs on the back of skipper Sanju Samson’s 27-ball 55 and notable contributions from Devdutt Padikkal (41 off 29 balls), Jos Buttler (35 off 28 balls) and Shimron Hetmyer (32 off 13 balls).
Amid the carnage, seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar returned with decent figures of 1 for 29 in his four overs for SRH.
In reply, the Sunrisers could only manage 149/7 in 20 overs. It was a listless batting performance from the Kane Williamson-led side as the top four got out for a single-digit mark.
Aiden Markram was the top scorer with 41-ball 57* while Washington Sundar played a handy cameo of 14-ball 40 but it wasn’t enough for SRH.
Wrist-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal starred with the ball for the Royals, claiming three wickets by conceding 22 runs in his four overs. Prasidh Krishna (2-16) and Trent Boult (2-23) were also economical with the ball and picked up two scalps each.
For the clinical performance in their season opener, Sanju Samson and company received rich praise from the cricket fraternity on Twitter.
Here are the reactions:
