Rajasthan Royals earned their fourth successive IPL victory at the expense of Sunrisers Hyderabad, but what should have been a comfortable triumph went down to the last ball of the match.
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Royals won the toss and elected to field. Sunrisers were pegged back by Dhawal Kulkarni, who enjoyed two successes with the new ball in the opening stages, before Pravin Tambe saw off Naman Ojha and England’s Eoin Morgan to end their fourth-wicket partnership of 52, after which Kevin Pietersen’s former side unravelled.
Chasing 128, Royals looked well on course to cruise to the win until the final two overs, when Ajinkya Rahane was dismissed by Trent Boult and Praveen Kumar slowed down the batting side’s progress significantly to take it to the wire.
The first wicket of the game saw Shikhar Dhawan go for 10, caught by Sanju Samson off Kulkarni:
Tambe’s superb delivery accounted for Ojha:
Ravi Bopara tried to rally Sunrisers with a fine six off Tambe:
Bopara also stood out with the ball. Delivering to Karun Nair, he caught him for one to make it 96-3 with five overs left:
Sunrisers made it a close encounter but Royals’ James Faulkner won it with a four off Kumar at the death:
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