Indian Premier League 2020: Gallant Rajasthan Royals beat SunRisers Hyderabad by 5 wickets in nail-biter

A gritty batting performance saw Rajasthan Royals beat SunRisers Hyderabad by 5-wickets on Sunday (October 11) at the Dubai International Stadium in Abu Dhabi.

With the win Rajasthan Royals put a full-stop to their string of losses as they finally won a game after four consecutive defeats.

Rahul Tewatia and youngster Riyan Parag’s 85-run partnership won the game for Rajasthan who had looked down and out at one stage.

Chasing 159, the duo took to the crease with the score reading 78/5 in 12 overs and grasped the victory for Rajasthan from the jaws of defeat. The two first steadied the ship for their side and took the game deep. They then threw the kitchen sink at it in the final three overs to win the game in a nail-biting finish.

It was Tewatia who came up with the clutch shots. He hit three consecutive fours of Rashid Khan's 18th over - who was bowling magnificently on the day and had already picked-up two wickets.

He followed it up with a four and a six from the next over bowled by Natarajan - who also had been very economical up until that point. He remained unbeaten on 45 (off 28 balls; 4x4, 6x2).

With just 8 runs to win from the last over, Riyan Parag hit a huge six off the penultimate ball to finish things off and capture a memorable win for Rajasthan Royals.

Earlier, SunRisers Hyderabad won the toss and opted to bat first. Jofra Archer was upto the task as he gave away just three runs from his opening two overs. SunRisers weren’t allowed to free their hands early on as they ambled along at pedestrian pace – In four overs they only reached 13/0.

Manish Pandey and skipper David Warner then joined hands to forge a 73-run stand for SRH. After Warner and Pandey’s dismissal – Kane Williamson and Priyam Garg scored 35 runs off the final two overs to get their side to a competitive total of 158/4.

Chasing the total, Rajasthan took a big gamble and sent Ben Stokes to open the innings with his compatriot Jos Buttler. The risky move didn’t pay off as Stokes was dismissed in just the second over. Steve Smith and Buttler followed suit to hand the advantage to SunRisers and it was left to Tewatia and Parag to finish the game.

Tewatia was adjudged the man of the match for his gritty knock.