Sunrisers Hyderabad on Monday spoiled Rajasthan Royals’ return to the Indian Premier League in a thumping nine-wicket home victory.
Hyderabad did not miss banned skipper David Warner as Shikhar Dhawan, dropped before scoring, and new captain Kane Williamson shared an unbeaten 121-run stand to a winning 127-1 in 15.5 overs.
Dhawan blazed an unbeaten 77 off 57 balls, including 13 fours and a six, while Williamson was unbeaten on 36, hitting three fours and a six.
Photo: AFP
Rajasthan’s multimillion-dollar signings, Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler, failed in their team’s sub-par total of 125-9 after being put in to bat by Williamson, who replaced Warner after the latter was embroiled in a ball-tampering scandal last month.
Rajasthan, returning after a two-year ban due to a betting scandal, struggled to put on partnerships in the absence of their own banned captain, Steve Smith.
Top scorer Sanju Samson (49) and captain Ajinkya Rahane (12) put up the best stand of 46 for the second wicket.
Buttler and Stokes scored only 6 and 5 respectively.
“We thought 125 was on the lower side, 150 or 160 would have been great,” Rahane said. “We were 50-1 and me and Sanju decided to back our intent, but we lost too many wickets. This is the first game, and we need to learn from our mistakes and move forward.”
Star Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan (2-23) started the Rajasthan slide when he removed Samson and Rahul Tripathi in the 14th over.
Leg-spinner Rashid Khan (1-23) further jolted them when he bowled Buttler with a googly.
Siddarth Kaul also bowled steadily and picked up two wickets that included Rahane.
“No doubt we miss Davey [Warner], such a fantastic player for us, but the guys were brilliant all round in the field,” Williamson said. “We picked up wickets at key times and we fielded well.”
In the reply, Dhawan got a reprieve before he scored when Rahane missed a straight forward catch at point in the first over.
Dhawan capitalized with his trademark cut shots, while Williamson seemed happy to give up the spotlight.
Rahane used seven bowlers against them, but left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkat (1-28) picked up the solitary wicket of Wriddhiman Saha.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set