When Warner is on song, there's little margin: Rahane

Hyderabad, March 30 - With Rajasthan Royals putting on 198 after taking strike against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Uppal, it was believed that the Royals had put on a winning total. But Sanju Samsons brilliant 100 went in vain as Sunrisers Hyderabad chased down the total with six balls to spare.

Speaking after the game, RR skipper Ajinkya Rahane said that despite putting up a good total, the Royals ended up on the losing side due to some brilliant batting from Hyderabad.

"First of all, 190+ on that wicket was really good. Initially when Sanju and me were batting the wicket looked slow -- it was stopping and coming -- and we thought 150 was a good total. But when players like Warner bat like that there is a very small margin for us. They didn't lose any momentum when someone got out and they played really well," he acknowledged.

Rahane was also all praise for Samson and said that the batsman needed to work on his consistency to make it to the next level. "We all know how talented Sanju is. He will go miles and consistency is going to be the key for him," he said.

SRH skipper Kane Williamson was all praise for his boys and was really happy to see the plan to have Rashid Khan bowl to RR batsman Jos Buttler work. He even praised Rashid for putting up a good show with the bat towards the end of the chase.

"It was nice that it came off (Rashid bowling to Buttler). He's such a wicket-taker for us and Jos is a threat for us. Rashid was supposed to bat 7 or 8 depending on the situation. His batting has improved so much in the last year or so. It's nice to be on the right side of the result tonight," he smiled.

Commenting on the show put up by the players as they chased down 199 on a wicket that wasn't very conducive to batting, Williamson said: "A very tough game. Rajasthan Royals played really well to get to that total after the start we had with the ball. It was a brilliant chase. The openers set it up for us. A good collective effort, we needed parts to work well for us tonight. Really good experience for us as a batting unit to chase it down."

IANS