Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Rajasthan Royals by seven runs after a brilliant innings from Eoin Morgan proved too much for the Royals to chase down.
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The Sunrisers got off to a strong start through skipper David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan, getting to 48-1 off 4.4 overs before the former was caught behind after looking like he had back pain. Moises Henriques and Dhawan kept the runs coming, albeit at a slower pace to get the side to 91-2 from 11 overs before Eoin Morgan came to the crease after the Australian was bowled playing a terrible shot.
The Irish born batsman immediately started getting bat to ball, with this early six signalling what was to come.
He continued in this vein, hitting the ball in all directions until eventually falling for 63 from 28 balls with his side 184-4 from 18. The final couple of overs petered out but the damage had already been done by the England ODI captain.
Rajasthan didn’t make a great start, with Ajinkya Rahane and Shane Watson both falling in the first five overs to leave them 30-2 after 4.1 overs. The wickets kept tumbling until they were 77-4 after 11, but then Steve Smith attempted to repeat Morgan’s heroics from earlier. The all-rounder’s 68 from 40 balls gave his team hope before he fell at 121-5.
Quickfire 30s from James Faulkner and Chris Morris in the final stages kept some life in the game going in the final stages. Three sixes in a row from the latter even left the Royals needing only 18 from the final over.
However, in the end even this wasn’t enough as they fell short, and are still searching for the win that will guarantee their place in the play offs.
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