IPL 7: RR vs SRH: Rajasthan Royals win slow and steady

Abu Dhabi: Chasing a modest 133 posted by the Sunrisers Hyderabad, Rajasthan Royals reached the target in the last over, supported by some powerful performances and a few cameos. 

It was a little rocky for the Royals initially but Ajinkya Rahane and Stuart Binny saw the team through with some restrained batting.

A Nayar departed quickly for 4, bowled by Sunriser Hyderabad's ace hand Dale Steyn. Sanju Samson too went soon for 3, caught Shikhar Dhawan, bowled Bhuvaneshwar Kumar.

Here is the live cricket score.

Next to go was Shane Watson for 3, caught Lokesh Rahul bowled, Ishant Sharma. Ajinkya Rahane then hit a gritty 59 before being out, caught Aaron Finch and bowled Amit Mishra. Brad Hodge followed soon after scoring 1.

Rajat Bhatia departed in the second last over for 9.

Rajasthan Royals were 126/6 in 19 overs.

Earlier, put to bat by the Rajasthan Royals who won the toss, Sunrisers Hyderabad posted a modest 133 in a cautious innings that never quite took off.

Hyderabad's watchful strokeplay was punctuated by regular wickets, thanks to some accurate bowling by the Royals and excellent fielding. Sunrisers finished 133 for 6, with a run rate of 6.65.

Sunrisers' opener Aaron Finch fell in the first over off Dhaval Kulkarni, playing an uppish square cut to hole out at cover point to Kane Richardson for 2.

Skipper Shikhar Dhawan and David Warner steadied the ship after that early loss with some watchful batting and opportune strokeplay. It looked like Sunrisers were cruising towards a big finish but captain Shikhar Dhawan was out in the 12th over for 38 from 34 balls. David Warner followed soon with 32 off 35, caught by Kane Richardson off Rajat Bhatia. K L Rahul then played a quick hand and departed in his 20s -- it was his 22nd birthday too!

Darren Sammy looked to force the pace in the next over, miscuing a delivery completely to depart for 6 off 11 balls.

The Royals added to the pressure with some accurate bowling and tight fielding. Sunrisers ended 133/6 in 20 overs.

Rajasthan Royals, the one-time IPL champion are led by Shane Watson while SRH is captained by Shikhar Dhawan. RR retained Rahane, Watson, Samson, Binny and Faulkner before the auction and during the auction bought back Hodge, Tambe, Yagnik, Cooper and co. to maintain their core group of players intact.

SRH, on the other hand, retained Steyn and Shikhar Dhawan prior to auction and then spent their money buying back the likes of Sammy, Ishant Sharma, Karn Sgarma and Amit Mishra. They also made sure that increase their pace bowling options by adding Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Irfan Pathan to their squad. Along with them, they also brought in the dangerous Australian opening duo of Warner and Finch.

Squads:

Rajasthan Royals: Shane Watson (c), Ajinkya Rahane, James Faulkner, Stuart Binny, Sanju Samson, Brad Hodge, Steven Smith, Abhishek Nayar, Ben Cutting, Kane Richardson, Tim Southee, Unmukt Chand, Ankush Bains, Vikramjeet Malik, Rahul Tewatia, Ankit Sharma, Amit Mishra, Deepak Hooda, Rajat Bhatia, Kevon Cooper, Iqbal Abdulla, Dhawal Kulkarni, Pravin Tambe, Karun Nair, Dishant Yagnik.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Shikhar Dhawan (c), Dale Steyn, David Warner, Darren Sammy, Amit Mishra, Aaron Finch, Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Brendan Taylor, Moises Henriques, Venugopala Rao, Jason Holder, S Aniruddha, Manprit Juneja, KL Rahul, Amit Paunikar, Naman Ojha, Ricky Bhui, Ashish Reddy, Chama Milind, Parveez Rasool, Prashanth Parameshwaran, Karn Sharma.