Sunrisers Hyderabad dominated with both bat and ball to defeat Rajasthan Royals by 11 runs and rise to the top of the Indian Premier League (IPL) table yesterday. Electing to bat first, Hyderabad rode on excellent batting by Kane Williamson and Alex Hales to post 151/7 in their 20 overs.
In reply, Rajasthan could only manage to reach 140/6.
The win propelled Hyderabad to the top spot on the points table. The visitors now have 12 points from eight matches.
They rose one rung, displacing former champions Chennai Super Kings to the second spot. Kings XI Punjab are at the third position. Both Chennai and Punjab are on 10 points, with only the net run rate separating the two teams. Rajasthan’s chase was off to a poor start as opener Rahul Tripathi was bowled by Hyderabad pacer Sandeep Sharma in the third over.
Rajasthan skipper Ajinkya Rahane – the team’s other opener – led from the front, batting through the innings to remain unbeaten on 65 runs off 55 balls.
He posted a partnership of 59 runs off 44 balls with Sanju Samson to bring the hosts’ innings back on track after Tripathi’s departure. Samson scored 40 runs off 30 balls before holing out to Hales at short mid-wicket while attempting to smash a deceptive slower ball by Siddarth Kaul out of the ground.
That seemed to take the fight out of the hosts as they continued to lose wickets at regular intervals. Kaul returned figures of 2/23 to emerge as the most successful among the Hyderabad bowlers. Sandeep Sharma, Basil Thampi, Rashid Khan and Yusuf Pathan also bagged a wicket each. Earlier, Hyderabad rode on excellent batting by Williamson and Hales to post 151/7 in their 20 overs. Williamson smashed 63 runs off 43 balls with seven boundaries and two sixes. Hales scored 45 runs off 39 balls. 
The two of them added 92 runs between them to lay the foundation of a big total after Hyderabad opener Shikhar Dhawan was bowled by Krishnappa Gowtham in the third over.
New Zealand spinner Ish Sodhi brought the partnership to an end in the 15th over when he claimed his maiden IPL wicket in the form of Williamson. That triggered a strong comeback by the hosts as the visitors’ middle and lower order failed to rise to the occasion. West Indies pacer Jofra Archer was the most successful among the Rajasthan bowlers with figures of 3/26 in his four overs.

Brief scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad: 151/7 in 20 overs (Kane Williamson 63, Alex Hales 45; Jofra Archer 3/26) vs Rajasthan Royals: 140/6 in 20 overs (Ajinkya Rahane 65, Sanju Samson 40).

Lynn leads KKR to six-wicket win over RCB
 An unbeaten 62 by opener Chris Lynn, coupled with other valuable contributions, led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to a six-wicket victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) yesterday.
Dinesh Karthik won the toss and decided to put the hosts to bat first. An unbeaten 68 by captain Virat Kohli and quickfire 28-ball 38 by Brendon McCullum set up a 176-run target for Kolkata.
In reply, Lynn and Sunil Narine put together a 59-run partnership for the first wicket, before Murugan Ashwin had the West Indies allrounder caught at long off by Colin de Grandhomme.
Next in, Robin Uthappa (36) did the bulk of the scoring in his 49-run stand with Lynn. Kolkata’s chase faced setbacks after Uthappa was sent back by Ashwin in the 13th over, and Nitish Rana (15) was rushed back by the physio for a lower back niggle. Andre Russell too did not disturb the scorers, as Kolkata were at 139 for 3. However, Karthik smashed a six and two fours in his 10-ball 23 to breathe life into the chase. 
Kohli took a brilliant catch running forward at long on, but that did not stop Kolkata, who won after new man Shubman Gill smashed a boundary off the first ball of the last over by Umesh Yadav. Earlier, Kohli’s unbeaten 68-run knock came off 44 balls, containing five boundaries and three sixes at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium. Bangalore started on a cautious note as openers Quinton de Kock (29 off 27) and McCullum (38 off 28) shared a 67-run partnership for the first wicket. KKR spinner Kuldeep Yadav came up with the first breakthrough as he packed de Kock in the ninth over. With the addition of just seven runs in Bangalore’s overall score of 67, Russell jolted the hosts after dismissing McCullum and Manan Vohra (0) in the next over. However, Kohli kept one end tight and added 65 runs for the fourth wicket with Mandeep Singh (19). 
Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 175 for 4 (Virat Kohli 68 not out, Brendon McCullum 38; Andre Russell 3/31) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 176 for 3 in 19.1 overs (Chris Lynn 62 not out, Robin Uthappa 36; Murugan Ashwin 2-36, Mohamed Siraj 2-40) by six wickets.