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Samson warns against complacency after Royals' thumping win
Rajasthan Royals' Yuzvendra Chahal (centre) celebrates with teammates after taking the wicket of Sunrisers Hyderabad's Harry Brook. — AFP
Last year's runners-up Rajasthan Royals made a rollicking start to the IPL with a thumping 72-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in Hyderabad on Sunday.
Having amassed 203 for five after being put into bat, the Royals restricted the home team to 131/8 in what was an utterly ruthless performance with bat and ball.
Spinner Yuzvendra Chahal (4-0-17-4) broke the back of Sunrisers' batting after Kiwi pacer Trent Boult (4-1-21-2) removed Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi in the first over even before the home team could open its account.
Earlier, Jos Buttler (54), Yashasvi Jaiswal (54) and Sanju Samson (55) slammed aggressive half-centuries as Rajasthan Royals ripped apart the Bhuvneshwar Kumar-led SRH to pile up season's highest total yet.
In the process, they also became the first team to breach the 200-run mark this season.
"Very happy with the win. Having batters like Jos and Yashasvi, we can expect that (breaking records in the powerplay)," skipper Samson said.
"I think we definitely are a very good side but in this format and this league, you never know. We have to keep our heads down, focus on our processes.
"I personally wanted to stay there and finish the innings off. I think we did reasonably well."
One of the consistent performers in the IPL for Rajasthan Royals over last few years, Buttler made a sensational start to the season stroking his way to a 22-ball 54 with seven fours and three sixes until his assault was ended by SRH debutant Fazalhaq Farooqi.
Rajasthan Royals' 85 for one was overall the sixth highest total for any team in the powerplay while it was also their highest score in the first six overs in IPL history.
The dismissal, however, had no effect on Royals' charge as their skipper Samson teamed up with Jaiswal to add 54 runs for the second wicket, with RR crossing the 100-run mark in the eighth over.
The Royals lost some steam with regular fall of wickets as it took them the penultimate ball of the innings to get past the 200-mark.
If Buttler was ruthless at one end, Jaiswal successfully transitioned his domestic circuit form into making a strong opening to IPL 2023 with ease.
The left-handed batter brought up his overall fourth fifty in the competition, finishing at 54 from 37 balls with nine hits to the fence.
Farooqi got the second wicket for SRH in the 13th over with Abhishek Sharma taking a fine catch to dismiss Jaiswal.
Overall, Rajasthan Royals enjoyed a successful outing with the bat with captain Samson hitting 55 from 31 balls (3x4s, 4x6s).
If RR's top three made merry with the bat, the young Devdutt Padikkal (2) had no answer to Umran Malik's 149.2 kmph thunderbolt -- in the first delivery of the 15th over -- that sent his off-stump flying.
Riyan Parag (7) perished early while Shimron Hetmyer (22 not out from 16 balls, 1x4s, 1x6s) took them past 200.
With four of his six bowlers giving away more than 10 runs an over, SRH's stand-in captain for the game Bhuvneshwar (3-0-36-0) would certainly have revisited his decision to bowl first.
Natarajan finished with 3-0-23-2 while Farooqi took 2/41 from his four overs. England's Adil Rashid was wicketless but bowled a controlled spell of 4-0-33-0.
Brief scores
RR 203/5 (Sanju Samson 55, Jos Buttler 54, T Natrajan 2/23)
SRH 131/8 (Abdul Samad 32, Mayank Agarwal 27, Yuzvendra Chahal 4/17).
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