IPL: Dhawan stars as Hyderabad outplay Rajasthan

Hyderabad, April 10 - Brilliant batting from opener Shikhar Dhawan (77 not out) helped Sunrisers Hyderabad outplay Rajasthan Royals by nine wickets in the fourth match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) here on Monday. Right from the start, Dhawan, who slammed

Put in to bat, Rajasthan got off to a poor start as opener D Arcy Short (4) was departed on the last ball of the the first over. But after that wicket, new batsman Samson and opener Ajinkya Rahane (13) forged a crucial 46-run partnership to steady their team's ship.

Just when things seemed good in the middle, Rahane was dismissed in the seventh over by Kaul.

Unperturbed by the fall of skipper's wicket, Samson played freely, smashing the bad balls. Middle-order batsmen Ben Stokes (5), Rahul Tripathi (17) failed to utilise the start and were dismissed cheaply in the process.

While trying to increase the run-rate, Samson was also dismissed by spinner Hasan in the 14th over. Samson played 42 balls and slammed five boundaries.

Krishnappa Gowtham (0) was next to go. Kaul dismissed him in the 15th over.

Jos Buttler (6) and Shreyas Gopal (18) then joined in the middle but the latter failed and departed in the 18th over. Gopal, however, tried to pace the innings but was sent packing in the last over by Bhuvneshwar Kumar.

Brief scores:
Rajasthan: 125/9 (Sanju Samson 49; Siddarth Kaul 2/17) against Hyderabad 127/1 (Shikhar Dhawan 77 not out; Jaidev Unadkat 1/28)

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IANS