Finally, after a wait of so many days, the Rajasthan Royals tasted success in the Indian Premier League 2020. The team looked out of the chase midway but the Sunrisers had a final hurdle of going past Rahul Tewatia which they could not till the end and lost the game. Riyan Parag finally arrived in the tournament and stitched a match-winning partnership with Tewatia that sailed the Royals' ships against the Sunrisers.
Here we have picked the best and the worst performances from the game.
The kind of form the Rajasthan Royals had shown in the last few matches and the start the top order provided in the chase, they needed a superhero to take them over the line and who better than Rahul Tewatia to be that hero and rise to the occasion. Tewatia was slow and steady to start with and the match started looking out of Royals’ control.
But, like in one of the early games, Tewatia switched himself on, and with that, shots started flowing from the bat that earned him a big name very early in this season.
With the Royals needing 36 off the last three overs including one of Rashid Khan, Tewatia showed his full range of shots that included reverse sweeps and an inside-out drive over extra cover to smash Aghan spinner for three boundaries in a row. The momentum was now with him and the Royals and he never allowed the Sunrisers to come back in the game afterward.
Riyan Parag was under huge pressure coming into the match against the Sunrisers but the team management kept on backing him based on his talent. The time was nigh for him to come good and repay the faith when the team desperately needed to win this game to get back on winning ways.
He came to the crease when Uthappa was trapped lbw by Rashid Khan and the young man held his composure and allowed Rahul Tewatia to win the show while he was chipping in with few boundaries here and there.
He put his foot on the accelerator just at the right time from the last ball of the 16th over when he created a Khaleel Ahmed’s short ball for a 97-meter six over mid-wicket. He never looked back from that stroke as the next over from Sandeep Sharma saw Parag in a beast mode. Parag took him for six and two boundaries in the 17th over.
Rahul Tewatia took care of the required run rate in the next two overs and Parag quickly switched to the supporting role to Tewatia. When the match was at the deciding juncture and Royals needed two off the last two deliveries, Khaleel erred in his length and Parag was too good to miss out and he deposited the full toss over the extra cover boundary to break into a special celebration where he showed his footwork in Bihu dancing.
Manish Pandey was not getting big runs at the number three position for the Sunrisers and that was putting a lot of pressure on the opening duo of Jonny Bairstow and David Warner along with Kane Williamson who bats just a position lower than him. He has shown good striking form so far in the season but was not quite able to take the momentum for a longer period of time.
He corrected all that in the match against the Rajasthan Royals and built a strong foundation with captain David Warner. Pandey’s 44-ball-54 was filled with his signature shots such as sixes down the ground against spinners and walking drives against acres.
Manish Pandey showed good form but maybe he failed to increase the tempo of his innings that allowed the Royals to come back in the game but after the loss of Bairstow halfway into the power play, Manish’s resilience was important if the Sunrisers were to have any chance of challenging the Royals batting line up.
The Rajasthan Royals waited for such a long time for Stokes to come back and balance their playing XI and a lot was talked about the improvements in performances he will bring into the Rajasthan team. Ben Stokes has a history of slow starts and it remained true for his IPL 2020 journey as the star English all-rounder failed to leave any mark on the game either with the bat or ball.
He was asked to bowl for only one over by captain Steve Smith and he never looked threatening for the SRH’s batsmen. The southpaw was asked to open the innings for the Royals in order to bring an X-factor into the top order while Smith will remain at the number 3.
Stokes tried to tee off and attacked Khaleel Ahmed for a four down the ground but his stay at the crease was short-lived as he tried to play a short of a length delivery from Khaleel while rooted in the crease. The ball took the inside edge and hit the stump and ended Stokes’ highly-talked but ineffective participation in his first match of the IPL 2020.
On paper, Jos Buttler is the best T-20 batsman in the Royals’ batting line up and he has also been assigned the role of the biggest impact player in the batting order. A lot of Royals’ fortunes hinge on the level of Buttler’s performances, but the best of Buttler has not been seen in this season except for his explosive innings against the Mumbai Indians.
Buttler’s role was much more crucial in today's match as Ben Stokes had departed early and he was also involved in the run out of Steve Smith. Buttler had to go big and for a longer period of time to win the game for the Royals but it was not to be for Buttler and he fell victim to a short and incoming delivery off Khaleel Ahmed.
Rajasthan Royals have finally broken the shackles and tasted success after such a long time but the questions about a top-order heavy team remain relevant. Stokes was slotted at the top order who could have been used as an enforcer in the middle overs. Smith would be relieved the team got over the line but the Royals need to get their acts together if they want to make this win a longer winning streak.
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