Nitesh Kumar Sahoo

Dubai: SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) restricted Rajasthan Royals (RR) to 154/6 wickets in 20 overs at the 40th match of 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL) at Dubai International Stadium on Thursday. Manish Pandey and Vijay Shankar's unbeaten half-centuries lead their team towards achieving victory with 11 balls left. SRH won the match by 8 wickets.

In a big blow to SRH, Jofra Archer dismissed David Warner in the 4th ball of the 1st over. Early dismissal of Warner scoring only 4 runs was indeed a big blow to SRH.

Next, it was Jonny Bairstow who departed scoring only 10 runs off 6 balls. Again it was Archer's attack that took the big wicket in the 3rd over.

However, Manish Pandey and Vijay Shankar took the responsibility to lead their team towards victory.

At the end of the powerplay, SRH was 58/2.

Manish Pandey got his 18th fifty in IPL. Manish scored the fifty very fast in just 28 deliveries.

A powerful partnership of Manish and Vijay made SRH's way towards achieving victory.

Vijay also made scored a half-century in the match. While Manish scored 83 runs off 47 balls, Vijay scored 52 runs off 51 balls. Both the strikers remained unbeaten and clinched victory from RR.

RR scored 156 runs at a loss of 2 wickets.

Related Story: IPL 2020: SRH Restrict RR At 154/6 In 40th IPL Match

Jason Holder took three wickets in his first game of the IPL match in the first innings. Holder, who was brought in as replacement for the injured Kane Williamson, took the important wickets of Sanju Samson (36), RR captain Steve Smith (19) and the dangerous Riyan Parag (20) and ended the innings with figures of 3/33.

All three of the wickets that the West Indies Test captain took came at crucial points, especially that of Parag who had two fours and a six and was looking capable of propelling RR beyond 160 at the start of the 19th over, in which Holder got him.

Rashid Khan dismissed the struggling Ben Stokes, who laboured to 30 off 32 balls while Vijay Shankar dismissed the big wicket of Jos Buttler.

Big-hitting Stokes's struggle to hit his first six in the current season of IPL continued today as the England all-rounder failed to hit one against SunRisers Hyderabad.

The England all-rounder, known for big hits, has now played 103 deliveries over five matches, scoring 110 runs at an average of 22 runs. Although he has hit 14 fours, he is yet to hit a six.

Stokes, who joined the IPL late as he was with his ailing father in New Zealand, tried a few big shots on Thursday and almost got out once. On another occasion, the ball fell short of the boundary and in no man's land.

The Man of the Final at last year's World Cup has a highest score of 41 in the IPL. He has bowled just six overs in the tournament so far, putting questions over his utility.

Before the tournament began, Stokes had 102 sixes in 123 T20 games.

Last IPL season too, he managed to hit just four sixes in nine matches.

The other big-hitter to disappoint in the league is Glenn Maxwell. The Kings XI Punjab batsman has faced 87 deliveries without hitting a six. He has scored 90 runs at 15 with just eight fours.

(With Agency Inputs)

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