Sanju Samson anchored Rajasthan Royals' 161 run-chase with an unbeaten 48 after openers Ajinkya Rahane and Liam Livingstone got the Royals off to a flying start. Samson struck four fours and a six during his 32-ball knock, adding 55 for the third wicket with Steve Smith as the host side kept its playoff hopes alive.
Shakib Al Hasan, Khaleel Ahmed and Rashid Khan took one wicket each but failed to thwart Rajasthan Royals' winning surge. Bangladesh all-rounder Shakib has decided to stay back in India with Sunrisers Hyderabad to fine-tune his skills ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup starting May 30 in the UK. Named vice-captain of Bangladesh for the big-ticket event, Shakib was supposed to report to Bangladesh Cricket Board on April 23 for the World Cup camp and preparations for the series in Ireland, but he decided against it.
Ajinkya Rahane and Liam Livingstone put on a 78-run opening stand to get Rajasthan Royals' chase off to a solid start. Rahane's 34-ball 39 including four fours and a six coupled with Livingstone's 26-ball 44 studded with four fours and three sixes blunted Sunrisers' bowling attack upfront.
Manish Pandey continued his rich vein of form, smacking a 36-ball 61. His blitzkrieg innings comprised nine hits to the fence. However, Pandey found little support from his team-mates as Sunrisers slipped from 103/2 to 160/8.
Shreyas Gopal snapped up in-form David Warner and Manish Pandey to restrict Sunrisers to a manageable total. He was ably guided by Varun Aaron, Oshane Thomas and Jaydev Unadkat who took two wickets each to keep a lid on the scoring.
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