Rajasthan thrash Hyderabad by seven wickets

Rashid Khan, Khaleel Ahmed and Shakib picked one wicket each for SRH.

Jaipur: Sanju Samson and Liam Livingstone made a valuable contribution as all-round Rajasthan Royals thrashed Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets and one over to spare in an Indian Premier League (IPL) contest at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium, here on Saturday

Chasing a mediocre total of 161 to win, Rajasthan Royals' opener gave their side a flying start as Ajinkya Rahane and Liam Livingstone put up a 78 runs stand for the first wicket.

Afghan star Rashid Khan broke Rahane and Livingstone's partnership by removing the latter from the attack. Livingstone, who was promoted as an opener in Saturday's game, smashed 44 runs off 26 balls with the help of four fours and three sixes.

Sanju Samson joined Rahane after the departure of Livingstone. Shakib Al Hasan removed Rahane in the 12th while the Indian was trying to escalate Rajasthan's innings, as David Warner caught him at long-off.

Royals skipper Steve Smith joined forces Samson in 12th over to put Rajasthan back on track. The duo added 55 runs before Rashid dismissed Smith.

Ashton Turner joined Samson in 17th over and the duo guided Rajasthan to seven wickets victory over Hyderabad.

Earlier, some disciplined bowling by Rajasthan Royals restricted Sunrisers Hyderabad to a modest 160/8 as Manish Pandey contributed with 61 runs off 36 balls.

Asked to bat first, Sunrisers Hyderabad's start was not as good as they would have expected prior to the match as they lost their skipper Kane Williamson in the powerplay.

Rajasthan's Shreyas Gopas drew the first blood for his side by removing Williamson when SRH's scorecard read 28. Williamson opened SRH innings with David Warner as Jonny Bairstow had left India for England's World Cup camp.

Williamson scored 13 runs off 14 balls with the help of two fours but the New Zealand skipper did not look in touch with the bat as Gopal got the better off him in only fourth over of the game.

Manish Pandey joined Warner at the crease after Kiwi cricketers' dismissal. The duo escalated Hyderabad's innings as they snitched 74 runs for the second wicket.

Warner was removed by in 13th over as his countryman Steven Smith took a stunning catch at the mid-off. Warner scored 37 runs off 32 balls and surprising the Aussie cricket did not hit a single four or six.

After Warner's departure, Hyderabad once again lost the plot as their middle-order crumbled in front of Rajasthan's bowlers.

Batting at number four, Vijay Shankar, India's three dimensional World Cup cricketer, joined Pandey at the crease but was not able to do much damage as Varun Aaron got the better off him.

Just one over before Shankar's departure, Pandey lost his wicket in the 15th over to Shreyas Gopal.

While Pandey smashed 61 runs off 36 balls, Shankar was able to score just 8 runs off 10 balls.

Shakib Al Hasan and Deepak Hooda joined hands to bring SRH back into the game in 16th over. However, Jaydev Unadkat removed for a golden duck, before the batter was able to do much damage.

Wriddhiman Saha was included as a wicket-keeper batsman in place of Jonny Bairstow, but failed in making an impact with the bat as he departed for 5 runs off five balls 18th over. In the very next over Unadkat removed Shakib Al Hasan.

Rashid Khan played a cameo of 17 runs off 8 balls.

Rashid Khan celebrating Steve Smith's wicket

For Rajasthan Shreyas Gopal, Oshane Thomas, Jaydev Unadkat picked three wickets each.

Rashid Khan, Khaleel Ahmed and Shakib picked one wicket each for SRH.

Brief scores: 161/3 Rajasthan Royals (Sanju Samson 48, Liam Livingstone 44; Shakib Al Hasan 1/22) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 155/4 (Manish Pandey 61, David Warner 3; Jaydev Unadkat 2/26) by seven wickets.