In a nail-biting match, Rajasthan Royals (RR) lost to Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by four wickets on Sunday, May 7th. The match, held at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur, saw RR pacer Sandeep Sharma fail to defend 17 runs in the last over. Sharma had almost secured the game for the Royals but bowled a no-ball off the final delivery when SRH required a four off the last ball. Abdul Samad held his nerves to hit a six on the last ball, producing one of the most thrilling victories of IPL 2023. Despite RR posting a massive total of 214/2, SRH managed to chase down the target.
Jos Buttler played a crucial role in the RR innings, smashing 95 off 59 balls at a strike rate of 161.02. His innings included four sixes and ten boundaries. Sanju Samson also made a significant contribution, hitting 66 off 38 deliveries, including five maximums and four boundaries. Yashasvi Jaiswal chipped in with 35 off 18. For SRH, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Marco Jansen took solitary wickets.
Chasing a target of 215, Abhishek Sharma (55 off 34) and Anmolpreet Singh (33 off 25) gave a perfect start to SRH. Rahul Tripathi (47 off 29) and Heinrich Klassen (26 off 12) kept SRH in the hunt. Glenn Phillips (25 off 70) and Abdul Samad (17 off 7) provided a late flourish to win the game for Hyderabad. Yuzvendra Chahal emerged as the pick of the bowlers for RR, returning with figures of 4/29. Ravichandran Ashwin and Kuldip Yadav took one wicket apiece.
Fans trolled RR and Sandeep Sharma for losing the game off the final delivery. One user tweeted: “When life gives you an opportunity to be an uncapped player in the IPL. Be Abdul Samad, not Riyan Parag.” Here are some of the other best Twitter reactions: It wasn’t outstanding batting from SRH but poor bowling and fielding from RRs . #RRvsSRHIt wasn’t outstanding batting from SRH but poor bowling and fielding from RRs . #RRvsSRH
In the post-match show, RR skipper Sanju Samson said that he backed Sandeep Sharma to bowl the final over following his heroics against Chennai Super Kings (CSK). He, however, sounded disappointed with the no-ball as the right-arm pacer failed to execute it in the end. Speaking about the match, Samson said: “I was confident with Sandeep (defending the final over). He has won us a game from a similar situation (against CSK). He did it again today, but that no-ball ruined our result. Sandeep knows what to do.”
Samson further added: “Maybe there might be a small change in mindset for a few seconds when you feel that the job is done. Everyone was celebrating, but I think that’s the nature of this game. You can’t step the line at that point of time. With the target we posted, you can only feel happy once you win the game right. Not at all happy at the moment.”
RR will now look to return to winning ways against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday, May 11th.
