Varun, Moeen stop RR to 151/9 on sluggish track
Guwahati, Mar 26 (PTI): Kolkata Knight Riders' spin duo of Varun Chakravarthy and Moeen Ali worked in perfect tandem to weave their magic, as a disciplined bowling effort restricted Rajasthan Royals to a below-par 151/9 in their IPL clash here on Wednesday.
On a dry and sticky Barsapara pitch where the ball wasn’t coming onto the bat, KKR’s new spin combination -- brought together due to Sunil Narine's injury -- proved to be their game-changer.
Chakravarthy and Ali dismantled the Royals' middle order, picking up two wickets each in successive overs right after the powerplay, shifting the momentum in KKR’s favour.
Chakravarthy, varying his pace masterfully, bowled out his quota with exceptional figures of 2/17, while Moeen Ali finished with a tidy 2/23 from his four overs.
Seamer Vaibhav Arora (2/33) was expensive but chipped in with two crucial wickets -- regular Royals skipper Sanju Samson (13 off 11) with a yorker in the powerplay before dismissing impact substitute Shubham Dubey (9) cheaply.
Harshit Rana (2/36) was instrumental at the death, breaking Dhruv Jurel’s promising innings of 33 (28) and removing the dangerous Shimron Hetmyer for just 7, both in the crucial penultimate over.
A quickfire cameo 16 from 7 balls from Jofra Archer ensured that they reached 150-mark but he fell to Spencer Johnson () in the penultimate ball of their innings.
Put in, RR had looked set for a big total at 54 for 1, with a well-set Yashasvi Jaiswal (29 off 24) and local lad Riyan Parag (25 off 15) at the crease.
Riyan, leading the Royals for the first time at his home ground, began with intent, smashing Harshit Rana for a six over square leg off just the third ball he faced.
Riyan, who knows the Barsapara pitch like the back of his hand, played the shot of the innings in the next over -- a beautifully timed lofted drive off Vaibhav Arora, sending the ball soaring straight down the ground.
Jaiswal, dropped on 19, capped off the powerplay with a six as RR finished the first six overs strongly at 54/1.
However, KKR struck back immediately. Chakravarthy, their mystery spinner, triggered the collapse in the seventh over, dismissing the dangerous-looking Parag with a well-disguised 113kph delivery.
Riyan mistimed his lofted shot, and the ball soared high into the night sky before Quinton de Kock calmly took the catch after removing his helmet.
Ali compounded RR’s troubles in the very next over by dismissing Jaiswal, who had looked in fine touch with two sixes and as many boundaries.
The England all-rounder continued his impact, getting rid of Wanindu Hasaranga (4), who had been promoted to No 5 but failed to make an impact, spooning a skiddy delivery straight to mid-off.
With four wickets falling for just 15 runs, RR’s innings never had the required momentum as they were at least 25 short of par-score.
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Vaibhav Sooryavanshi''s third-fastest IPL ton propels RR to 228/6 against SRH
Jaipur (PTI): Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (103) went hammer and tongs for the third fastest hundred in IPL history off 36 balls, powering Rajasthan Royals to a huge 228 for six against Sunrisers Hyderabad, in an IPL match here on Saturday.
Sooryavanshi made SRH pay a heavy price for an early reprieve when he was on 32 to notch up his second hundred in the league and first of the season, which followed three whirlwind fifties earlier.
The 15-year-old once again displayed his rich repertoire of strokes executed with brute force and timing, as Rajasthan played their first match of the season here at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. He used the long handle to maximum effect to clobber 12 sixes as against five fours in his 37-ball 103.
He brought up his ton with a six off Sakib Hussain (1/62) on his 36th delivery, recording the third fastest century in the IPL after his own 35-ball hundred last year and Chris Gayle’s 30-ball ton for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in April 2013.
Sooryavanshi was off the blocks quickly when he smacked Praful Hinge (1/49) for two sixes on the on side and two down the wicket on the final four balls of the opening over, making a rapid start and didn’t look back.
An on-song Sooryavanshi rarely missed a freebie to punish as he garnered runs on both the sides of the wicket while putting on two robust stands at the top to continue RR’s charge.
His rapid start helped in adding 40 runs off only 14 balls for the opening wicket while he consolidated for RR with a 112-run stand for the second wicket with Dhruv Jurel, who chipped in with a 35-ball 51 with eight fours and two sixes.
Sooryavanshi's charge ended immediately after completing his ton when he missed a scoop off Hussain and was pinned in front of the stumps for a leg-before.
Meanwhile, Jurel was also lucky twice as Hussain could not hold on to two tough return chances in his follow-through.
Even as SRH managed to get the rid of the dangerous Yashasvi Jaiswal (10) early, they erred when the opportunity was created by Eshan Malinga (2/38) in the fifth over to remove Sooryavanshi.
On a length ball, Sooryavanshi looked to heave it to the on-side but mistimed it. Aniket Reddy covered some distance at deep midwicket on his right but the ball popped out of his hands for a costly drop.
Sooryavanshi went on to complete his fifty off 15 balls with a six in the sixth over from Hussain.
RR's innings was also spruced up by Donovan Ferreira's late 16-ball 33, studded with three sixes and as many fours.
Amid the charge from RR batters, SRH had their regular skipper Pat Cummins returning with impressive numbers of 4-0-27-1 with his solitary wicket being that of his counterpart Riyan Parag (7).
