The Sanju Samson-led Rajasthan produced a clinical performance on Tuesday night at the Maharashtra Cricket Association (MCA) Stadium in Pune to start their campaign in the Indian T20 Cricket League 2022 tournament with a huge 61-run victory over former champions Hyderabad.
Rajasthan batsmen led by Samson made most of the favourable conditions on Tuesday night to put up the biggest total of the competition so far, 210/6 in their 20 overs, and restricted Hyderabad to a mere 149/7 in their 20 overs despite a fighting half-century from South Africa batsman Aiden Markram.
For a team which once used to have impactful T20 players such as David Warner and Jonny Bairstow at the top of the pile, it was a painful sight to see them failing to create any impact whatsoever in the first match of a new season of the Indian T20 Cricket League 2022.
On a pitch that offered something for all parties involved, Hyderabad bowlers missed their lengths more often than not, overstepped as many as four times inside the powerplay in which they could have dismissed Jos Buttler twice, and overall played poor cricket to start the season with a massive defeat.
Hyderabad invitation for Rajasthan to bat first proved to be a wrong call from the word go.
Jos Buttler made most of the two lifelines that he received at the start of the contest to race to 35 from only 28 balls, hitting 3 sixes and as many boundaries in the process. He was well supported by the young Indian batsman Yashasvi Jaiswal, who made a 16-ball 20 as the two Rajasthan batsmen added 58 runs from 6.1 overs before Hyderabad drew first blood.
The dismissal of Jaiswal in the seventh brought over Rajasthan captain Samson at the crease, with the right-handed Kerala batsman showcasing his rich talent with a spectacular knock on Tuesday night.
Samson made a mockery of the Hyderabad bowling attack, hammering 5 sixes and 3 boundaries to finish at 55 from only 27 balls.
Samson added 73 runs from only 41 balls for the third wicket with Karnataka and former Bangalore player Devdutt Padikkal, who impressed in his maiden outing for the 2008 title winners.
The left-handed Padikkal was brutal on the Hyderabad bowling attack, as he clobbered 4 boundaries and 2 sixes to finish at 41 from 29 balls, with right-handed express pace bowler Umran Malik cleaning up the batsman.
Even though Hyderabad managed to deny Padikkal a deserving half-century and kept Samson to 55, there was further misery in store for them brought on by the Caribbean dashing batsman Shimron Hetmyer.
Hetmyer was brutal on the Hyderabad bowlers as he swatted 3 sixes and a couple of boundaries to make 32 from just 13 balls whereas Riyan Parag did well to make a 9-ball 12 which included a couple of boundaries.
If the previous season in 2021 was littered with failures and controversies and Hyderabad wished it all to end soon in order to make a fresh start in 2022, a similar feeling of gloom and doom descended on the team’s dugout moments after their chase began.
The first blow came in the form of captain Kane Williamson, who was removed by M Prasidh Krishna after the Kiwi batsman was troubled by his compatriot Trent Boult at the start of the innings.
Williamson was dismissed by combined work from Samson and Padikkal behind the wickets, with an edge off the bat popping out of the extended right hand of Samson, and Padikkal diving in front of him to take a spectacular catch.
Hyderabad must be commended for promoting the talented Punjab batsman Abhishek Sharma as the other opener but the young player had a miserable time in the middle.
Abhishek could find only one boundary from 19 balls to make 9 before he was removed out of the equation by India legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal, who went on to take a couple of wickets more to finish with an impressive 4-0-22-3 on his debut for Rajasthan.
The matters became worse for Hyderabad when they lost Rahul Tripathi and Nicolas Pooran in quick succession with both the batsmen failing to open up their accounts.
Hyderabad were left reeling at 37/5 in the 11th over and slipped further to 78/6 by the 16th over, with their batsmen failing to find their feet.
However, Markram was class apart as courtesy his fine unbeaten half-century, Hyderabad were able to reduce the margin as a heavier defeat would have meant poorer Net Run Rate right at the start.
Markram finished at 57 not out from 41 balls with 5 boundaries and 2 sixes whereas Romario Shepherd made an 18-ball 24 with w sixes in his short stay at the crease.
The credit of reducing the margin of defeat must also go to India's spin bowling all-rounder Washington Sundar, who hammered 5 boundaries and 2 sixes to finish with 40 from 14 balls.
For Rajasthan, there was a huge sigh of relief with their new fast bowling pair of Trent Boult and Prasidh Krishna returning with impressive numbers.
Boult finished with 2/23 from his 4 overs which included a maiden, accounting for the likes of Sundar and Pooran. Krishna too was impressive on his Rajasthan debut as well, accounting for Abhishek Sharma and Tripathi.
Rajasthan will look to replicate this performance in the next game which is on April 2 against Mumbai whereas Hyderabad will face a test of character against Lucknow, whom they meet on April 4.
Devarchit Varma is a cricket writer and journalist with an experience of more than a decade, having worked at Hindustan Times (newspaper) and CricketCountry (website). Along with covering international and domestic cricket, he has also interviewed several current and former top players such as Rohit Sharma, Steve Smith, Dale Steyn, Michael Hussey, Jacques Kallis, Brendon McCullum, Shane Watson, Lasith Malinga and many more. He has also worked in other beats as a journalist in Bollywood (Reliance BigOye) and IT (SiliconIndia) industries.
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