Dhawan powers SRH win

​Hyderabad: Opener Shikhar Dhawan’s brilliance and a well-coordinated team effort helped Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) achieve a clinical nine-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals (RR) in their first match of the eleventh season of Indian Premier League (IPL) at Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium (RGICS) here on Monday.

Making his aggressive intentions clear while chasing a rather modest 126 runs target, the southpaw slammed 13 boundaries and one six. Though Hyderabad started poorly, losing their opener Wriddhiman Saha (5), Dhawan and skipper Kane Williamson (36 not out) guided it to a comfortable victory with over 25 balls remaining.

Williamson played 35 balls and smashed three boundaries and one six. For Rajasthan, pacer Jaydev Unadkat was the lone wicket taker. Earlier, a disciplined bowling helped Sunrisers Hyderabad restrict Rajasthan Royals to 125/9.

Apart from Sanju Samson (49), no other batsmen rose to the occasion. For Hyderabad, pacer Sidharth Kaul and spinner Shakib al Hasan took two wickets each. Put in to bat, Rajasthan got off to a poor start as opener D Arcy Short (4) departed on the last ball of the first over. However, Samson and opener Ajinkya Rahane (13) forged a crucial 46-run partnership to steady the innings. Just when things seemed good in the middle, Rahane was dismissed in the seventh over by Kaul.

Unperturbed, Samson played freely, smashing the bad balls. Middle-order batsmen Ben Stokes (5), Rahul Tripathi (17) failed to utilise the start and were dismissed cheaply in the process. While trying to increase the run-rate, Samson was also dismissed by spinner Hasan in the 14th over. Samson played 42 balls and hit five boundaries.

Krishnappa Gowtham (0) was next to go. Kaul dismissed him in the 15th over. Jos Buttler (6) and Shreyas Gopal (18) then joined in the middle but the latter failed and departed in the 18th over. Gopal, however, tried to pace the innings but was sent packing in the last over by Bhuvneshwar Kumar.