Dhawan stars as Hyderabad outplay Rajasthan

Brilliant batting from opener Shikhar Dhawan (77 not out) helped Sunrisers Hyderabad outplay Rajasthan Royals by nine wickets in the fourth match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) yesterday.Right from the start, Dhawan, who slammed 13 boundaries and one six, made his intentions clear. Though Hyderabad started poorly, losing their opener Wriddhiman Saha (5), but after that there was no looking back as Dhawan and skipper Kane Williamson (36 not out) guided it to a comfortable victory with over four overs remaining .Williamson played 35 balls in smashed three boundaries and one six.For Rajasthan, pacer Jaydev Unadkat was the lone wicket taker.Earlier, Disciplined bowling helped Sunrisers Hyderabad restrict Rajasthan Royals to 125/9 in their allotted 20 overs.Apart from Sanju Samson (49), no other batsmen rose to the occasion and were dismissed one by one. For Hyderabad, pacer Sidharth Kaul and spinner Shakib al-Hasan took two wickets each while Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Billy Stanlake and Rashid Khan chipped in one wicket each.Put in to bat, Rajasthan got off to a poor start as opener D Arcy Short (4) was departed on the last ball of the the first over. But after that wicket, new batsman Samson and opener Ajinkya Rahane (13) forged a crucial 46-run partnership to steady their team’s ship.Just when things seemed good in the middle, Rahane was dismissed in the seventh over by Kaul.Unperturbed by the fall of skipper’s wicket, Samson played freely, smashing the bad balls. Middle-order batsmen Ben Stokes (5), Rahul Tripathi (17) failed to utilise the start and were dismissed cheaply in the process.While trying to increase the run-rate, Samson was also dismissed by spinner Hasan in the 14th over. Samson played 42 balls and slammed five boundaries.Krishnappa Gowtham (0) was next to go. Kaul dismissed him in the 15th over.Jos Buttler (6) and Shreyas Gopal (18) then joined in the middle but the latter failed and departed in the 18th over. Gopal, however, tried to pace the innings but was sent packing in the last over by Bhuvneshwar Kumar.Brief scoresRajasthan: 125/9 (Sanju Samson 49; Siddarth Kaul 2/17) against Hyderabad 127/1 (Shikhar Dhawan 77 not out; Jaidev Unadkat 1/28)CSK VS KKRThe Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders, who will come up against each other in Match 5 of VIVO IPL 2018, will be brimming with confidence after thrilling wins in their respective season openers.CSK outclassed defending champions Mumbai Indians in the opening match. Down and out for all counts at one stage in their run-chase, Dwayne Bravo single-handedly turned the match around in favour of his team. The Trinidadian rescued his team from 118-8 in their chase of 166, with a sensational end innings blitz, before an injured Kedar Jadhav – who returned to bat after Bravo was dismissed in the penultimate over – took the team over the line with two boundaries.KKR did extremely well to pull back RCB’s reins just when they were in a position to explode. Nitish Rana, used by captain Dinesh Karthik possibly with an intention to slip one or two quiet overs, actually struck two big blows when he dismissed AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli off successive deliveries. KKR then restricted the visitors to a competitive 176-7, which they chased down in 18.5 overs. Sunil Narine’s blitz at the top gave KKR the perfect platform for such a chase, following which Rana and captain Karthik contributed thirties to get the job done.