In the fourth match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, Rajasthan Royals (RR) defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 72 runs at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
After winning the toss, Sunrisers Hyderabad opted to field first. The winners of the first-ever IPL season started their IPL season 16 campaign with some blazing batting as both their openers, Jos Buttler (54) and partner Yashasvi Jaiswal (54) scored excellent half-centuries. Both the batters put up 85 runs for the first wicket partnership before RR lost the Englishman in the sixth over. Buttler hammered seven fours and three sixes and played at the strike rate of 245.45 which helped middle-order batters to strike more freely and take RR to a score of 203/5 in 20 overs. Captain Sanju Samson (55) was one of the batters along with Shimron Hetmyer (22) to smash a few runs in the final overs.
In the second inning, Mayank Agarwal (27) and Abdul Samad (32) were the top scorers for the home side. No other batter could score enough runs which could have saved SRH.
While defending, Yuzvendra Chahal grabbed four wickets and just conceded 17 runs. Trent Boult also grabbed two wickets while one wicket each was also picked by Jason Holder and Ravichandran Ashwin.
On the other hand, for SRH, two wickets each were taken by T Natarajan and Fazalhaq Farooqi. With them, Umran Malik also took a wicket.
Jos Buttler was adjudged Man of the Match for his outstanding batting performance. With this win, RR have started off their IPL 2023 journey on a high note.
Scorecard:
Rajasthan Royals: 203/5, Overs 20, Sanju Samson 55, T Natarajan 2/23
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 131/8, Overs 20 Abdul Samad 32, Yuzvendra Chahal 4/14