Abu Dhabi : A patient half century by Ajinkya Rahane and some disciplined bowling display helped Rajasthan Royal notch up a comfortable four wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in their IPL match here on Friday.
Rahane shared a 77 run fourth wicket partnership with Stuart Binny (48 not out) to rescue Rajasthan after they were precariously placed at 31-3 in 6.2 overs. The 25 year old Mumbaikar hit six boundaries in his 53 ball 59 run innings to anchor the chase as Rajasthan overhauled Hyderabad’s score of 133-6 with three balls to spare at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.
Chasing 134 to win, Rajasthan had a horrible start as they lost Abhishek Nayar (4), Sanju Samson (3) and skipper Shane Watson (3) cheaply. While Dale Steyn (2/29) trapped opener Nayar in front of his wicket only in his third ball, Samson was sent packing by Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1/21) when the batsman’s miscued shot was caught by Dhawan in the fourth over as Rajasthan could only score 30 in their powerplay overs.
In the next over, Ishant Sharma (1/29) had Watson caught behind by wicket-keeper Lokesh Rahul with an away going delivery as Rajasthan slumped to 31 for three. Opener Ajinkya Rahane, however, dug his heels and started to weave a partnership with newman Binny. With Rahane struggling with his timing, Binny blasted a four and a six in the 10th over off Darren Sammy as Rajasthan scored 61/3 in the first 10 overs. The duo played sensible cricket as they kept taking ones and twos, besides the odd boundaries, to keep the scoreboard ticking.
