Emerging from the ruins of the previous season, Sanju Samson led Rajasthan displayed a royal show as their star-studded team registered the first victory of IPL 2022 after defeating Sunrisers Hyderabad by 61 runs in a lopsided game on Tuesday evening.
Sent in to bat first, Rajasthan's skipper led from the front. While Samson who was playing in his 100th match for RR scored a stunning 27 ball 55, he was ably supported by Paddikkal who smashed 41 off 29. A late cameo of 32 in 13 balls by Shimron Hetmeyer helped them post a daunting 211-run target for the opposition.
The Royals performed with the ball as well as they restricted Kane Williamson's team to a mere 149 in 20 overs. SRH kept losing wickets at regular intervals as they never recovered from Prasidh Krishna's early double strike. While Krishna and Trent Boult got 2 wickets each, Yuzvendra Chahal scalped 3 for Rajasthan. A late fightback by Aiden Markram and Washington Sunder who played a remarkable innings 57 and 40 respectively went in vain as Rajasthan wrapped the game comfortably.
While RR next play MI on 2nd April, SRH face Lucknow on 4th April.