The Sunrisers Hyderabad would have been confident about defending their total when they posted 160/8 against Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur on Saturday. However, all of SRH’s hopes were dashed when Ajinkya Rahane and Liam Livingstone started their team’s chase confidently. ((Full Scorecard))

Rahane made his intentions clear when he smashed Bhuvneshwar Kumar for two boundaries in the third over and then Rahane and Livingstone struck a six each off Rashid Khan’s bowling in the next over. They scored 16 runs of the fourth over from the Sunrisers Hyderabad leg-spinner. Livingstone was the more aggressive out of the two, smashing Siddarth Kaul for 20 runs in the sixth over.

Eventually, Rashid Khan managed to break the partnership by taking Livingstone’s wicket in the 10th over, but by then the damage was already done. Rahane and Livingstone put on a partnership of 78 runs in 9.1 overs. The duo struck eight fours and four sixes during the course of their stand.

Thereafter, Sanju Samson’s sensible innings of 48 runs from 32 balls helped Rajasthan Royals take down Sunrisers Hyderabad by seven wickets with five balls to spare.

Rajasthan Royals captain Steve Smith was very pleased with Livingstone’s innings at the top of the order.

“Liam Livingstone was magnificent as he played with freedom and got us off to a good start. Samson finished things off nicely. Playing together as a group and we’re winning those key moments. We have been fortunate in the last few games. We need to continue winning and you never know. I have got one more to play in Bangalore, it’ll be nice to finish on a winning note. Hopefully the boys will play well in Bangalore as well,” said Smith at the presentation.

First Published: Apr 28, 2019 00:09 IST