Watson leads; RR beat Hyderabad

RR made five changes to their playing eleven – Rahul Dravid, Kevon Cooper, Dishant Yagnik, Vikramjeet Malik, and Siddharth Trivedi made way for Abhishek Nayar, Rajat Bhatia, Kane Richardson, Dhawal Kulkarni, and Pravin Tambe.

SRH (Hanu)made five (Fin)changes to their playing (Pat)eleven – Parthiv, Vihari, Cameron White, Thisara Perera, and Biplab Samantray made way for Aaron, David Warner, Lokesh Rahul, Venugopal Rao, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

(Wats)On winning the toss, Shane, RR’s skipper, chose to field.

The first Powerplay of SRH’s innings – which was the mandatory Powerplay – was between the first and the sixth over. They scored 41, and lost a wicket.

Finch, who faced five balls, scored a couple. Five balls into the match, he was caught by Richardson. Kulkarni broke the two-run stand.

SRH scored 50 off eight overs (48 balls). RR had conceded eight extras at that point.

The second-wicket pair put on 50 off 45 balls. While the contributions of both Shikhar Dhawan, SRH's skipper, and Warner to the partnership were 21 apiece, extras’ contribution to it was eight.

Dhawan, whose 34-ball innings included three boundaries and a six, eventually scored 38. Sixty-four balls after Finch’s dismissal, he was caught by Richardson. Bhatua broke the 75-run partnership.

Warner, whose 35-ball innings included a boundary, eventually scored 32. Eleven balls later, he was caught by Richardson. Bhatia broke the five-run stand.

SRH scored 100 off 16.1 overs (97 balls). RR had conceded nine extras at that point.

Rahul, whose 18-ball innings included a boundary and a six, scored 20. Twenty-two balls after Warner’s dismissal, he was caught by Ajinkya Rahane, the player of the match. Kulkarni broke the 26-run stand.

Daren Sammy, who faced 11 balls, scored half-a-dozen. Three balls later, he was caught by Sanju Samson. Richardson broke the run-a-ball stand.

Rao, whose 12-ball innings included a boundary, scored 16. He was unbeaten.

Karn Sharma, who faced five balls, scored four. Thirteen balls after Sammy’s dismissal, he was caught by Brad Hodge. Richardson broke the 19-run stand.

Dale Steyn, who didn’t face a ball, was unbeaten.

RR eventually conceded 15 extras. SRH scored 133 for the loss of half-a-dozen wickets off 20 overs.

Stuart Binny, who bowled an over, had no reason to be in seventh heaven – he was wicketless.

James Faulkner, who bowled three wicketless overs, conceded 27.

Tambe, who bowled three wicketless overs, conceded 23.

Richardson, Kulkarni, and Bhatia bowled four overs each, picking up a couple of scalps apiece. They conceded 25, 23, and 22, respectively.

The first Powerplay of RR’s innings – which was the mandatory Powerplay – was between the first and the sixth over. They scored 30, and lost a couple of wickets.

Nayar, who faced three balls, scored four. His runs came by way of a boundary. Three balls into the chase, he was trapped leg be‘four’ wicket by Steyn.

Samson, who faced nine balls, scored three. Eighteen balls later, he was caught by Shikhar. Bhuvneshwar broke the 11-run stand.

Watson had no reason to be in seventh heaven – he scored just three. Seventeen balls later, he was caught by Rahul. Ishant Sharma broke the 16-run stand.

RR scored 50 off 9.2 overs (56 balls). SRH had conceded five extras at that point. That was, incidentally, the number of extras they eventually conceded.

The fourth-wicket pair put on 50 off 40 balls. While Rahane’s contribution to the partnership was 27, Binny’s contribution to it was 21. Extras’ contribution to the partnership was a couple.

Rahane’s half-century – which included five boundaries – came off 46 balls.

RR scored 100 off 14.4 overs (88 balls).

Rahane eventually scored 59 off 53 balls, which eventually scored half-a-dozen boundaries. Fifty-six balls after Watson’s dismissal, he was caught by Finch. Mishra broke the 77-run partnership.

Binny, whose 32-ball innings included four boundaries and a six, scored 48. He was unbeaten.

Hodge, who faced eight balls, scored just a run. Ten balls after Rahane’s dismissal, he was caught by Sammy. Mishra broke the three-run stand.

Bhatia, who faced three balls, scored four. His runs came by way of a boundary. Five balls later, he was caught by Finch. Steyn broke the 10-run stand.

Faulkner, who faced a couple of balls, scored eight. His runs came by way of boundaries. He was unbeaten.

RR, who scored 135 for the loss of half-a-dozen wickets off 19.3 overs, won by four wickets with three balls to spare.

Sammy and Karm bowled a couple of wicketless overs apiece. While the former conceded 19, the latter conceded eight.

Bhuvneshwar, who bowled 3.3 overs, conceded 21. He picked up a wicket, as did Ishant, who bowled four overs, conceding 29.

Steyn and Mishra bowled four overs each, picking up a couple of scalps apiece. They conceded 29 and 26, respectively.