IPL 2018: High 5 points from Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Royal thrashing of Rajasthan Royals

So, it wasn’t a Halla Bol return for Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League. Rajasthan Royals weren’t in their elements and suffered an embarrassing nine-wicket defeat against home team Sunrisers Hyderabad. Sunrisers Hyderabad despite missing their regular skipper David Warner never looked in real trouble and Shikhar Dhawan played a marvellous knock to take his team through and captain Kane Williamson will be mighty pleased with his team’s effort.

Here are the five takeaways from Hyderabad’s win over Rajasthan:

1. Rajasthan Royals’ batsmen looking rusty:

It’s early days in the tournament, but Royals batsmen looked rusty and out of sorts. The leader of the group Ajinkya Rahane couldn’t get going and the innings never really gathered any momentum. Apart from Sanju Samson (49) no other batsman looked comfortable and it was quite obvious that team was missing Australian Steven Smith’s batting and leadership. English stars Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler also struggled and Royals will have to pull up their socks if they want to do well in the tournament.

2. Who is Billy Stanlake?:

IPL always throws up unknown players and mystery performers, but this Australian giant pace bowler Billy Stanlake caught everyone by surprise and bowled with pace and venom. The tall and lanky pacer hurried batsmen with his pace and bounce and had respectable figures of 1/29 in four overs. Stanlake dismissed danger man Stokes and if he keeps his consistency then he will be a real threat in upcoming matches.

3. Sunrisers bowlers bowling well in partnership:

The Hyderabad team has got a very powerful and balanced bowling attack. From Bhuvneshwar Kumar to leggie Rashid Khan, every bowler understands his role and bowls according to the situation and opponent. Sunrises bowlers struck at regular intervals and never allowed Royals batsmen to get away. The attack also has variety and they complement each other really well and it was due to0 sustained effort that they restricted Royals to 125/9 in 20 overs. Kane Williamson would be pretty satisfied with his bowlers contribution and hope for same in future matches.

4. Shikhar Dhawan showing his class:

India’s much maligned and criticised cricketer Shikhar Dhawan played magnificently and scored an unbeaten 77 off 57 balls to take his team over the finishing line. Dhawan after getting dropped early on batted with intent and positivity and attacked Royals bowlers from the beginning. With Warner’s forced absence, the team will rely heavily on this happy go lucky player and Dhawan didn’t disappoint with his masterful batting.

5. What next for Royals?:

Rajasthan Royals got a proper thrashing and it throws up quite a few questions. The captain Rahane and mentor Shane Warne would have to come up with something different to change this pattern. Why wasn’t Jofra Archer picked, Why Rahul Tripathi batted at No 5 and many more questions will have to be answered. Knowing Royals they wouldn’t panic and Warne would be telling his players to put this game behind them and focus on positives.