Rajasthan Royals won the thriller by four wickets against the Sunrisers Hyderabad and booked the spot for the second qualifier of Indian Premier League which will be played at Eden Gardens against the Mumbai Indianson Friday. It was some brilliant stroke-play from Brad Hodge which sealed the victory for RR in this crunch game, especially after some brilliant bowling from Darren Sammy, Dale Steyn and Amit Mishra. Earlier it was some fine batting from Sammy against the likes of Siddharth Trivedi and Vikramjeet Malik which allowed his side to post a total of 132 runs on the board. 

 

Here we bring to you the hits and flops of the match between Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad
 

HITS

Brad Hodge: Hodge was just absolutely stunning as he smashed 54 runs off just 29 balls. He smacked five sixes and couple of fours to lead his side to an emphatic win over Sunrisers Hyderabad. He was declared Man-of-the-Match for his useful contribution with the bat.

Darren Sammy: Sammy was a treat to watch with his all-round dexterity. He scored 29 runs off 21 balls and gave his side a good total to defend. He bowled three very good overs as he gave away just 5 runs but the final two balls of his spell went for sixes which handed over the victory to RR.

Vikramjeet Malik: Malik was absolutely brilliant with the ball as he gave RR couple of breakthroughs in his initial overs which pushed them on the back-foot. He ended with the figures of 2/14 after his three overs.

Amit Mishra: Mishra once again bowled a magical spell of spin bowling and gave away just 16 runs off his four overs. He picked up the wicket of Ajinkya Rahane to end up with the bowling figures of 1/16.

Siddharth Trivedi: Trivedi was very economical in this match as just 18 runs were scored off his four overs. He picked up the wicket of Cameron White who was looking to step up the gas with some powerful shots.

Dale Steyn: Steyn was at his usual best but he didn’t get many wickets in this match. He gave away just 10 runs in first two overs and ended up with the figures of 1/23 after his four overs.

FLOPS

Parthiv Patel: Patel couldn’t contribute much with the bat as he was dismissed by Malik of the third ball he faced. He went across the line and ball took the leading edge and Sanju did no mistake in catching that bit tough one.

Hanuma Vihari: Vihari played the worst possible shot and got out after scoring just one run off the eight balls he faced. He went for the pull shot but because of the slowness of the pitch, he was deceived and was caught at mid-on.

Kevon Cooper: Cooper ended up as the worst bowler for RR in this crucial match. He gave away 36 runs in his four overs and conceded couple of fours and as many sixes.

Karan Sharma: Sharma started off well as he bagged the wicket of Shane Watson in his first over. But Hodge smacked away couple of sixes and a four in his second and final over of the match. He ended up with the figures of 2/24 in his couple of overs.

Stuart Binny: Binny couldn’t contribute much with the bat as he was undone by Sammy. He left too much of a gap between bat and pad which gave an easy chance to sneak through to disturb his timber.

Ishant Sharma: He kept bowling the length balls on either off-stump or middle-stump which cost him plenty in his spell of three overs. He conceded four fours and one six and ended up with the figures of 1/31 as he dismissed Rahul Dravid in his first over.

By Amit Chopra
Indian Sports News Network