Twitter Reactions: Lifeless SRH bow down to sparkling Royals in Jaipur

Steve Smith and Co won with five balls to spare.

Published - 27 Apr 2019, 23:39 IST | Updated - 27 Apr 2019, 23:39 IST

2 Min Read

The Rajasthan Royals (RR) managed to keep their playoffs hopes alive in this edition’s Indian Premier League (IPL). The team, captained by Steve Smith, came out firing on all cylinders and defeated the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by seven wickets at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. With their sixth defeat, the Orange Army is now in requisite of winning all their remaining for matches.

Pandey takes charge

After losing the toss and being put in to bat first, the Sunrisers put 160 for the loss of eight wickets in 20 overs. Kane Williamson looked scratchy on his comeback and was cleaned up by Shreyas Gopal. However, David Warner and Manish Pandey stitched together a vital stand of 75 off 50 balls to set the platform for a final flourish. Warner wasn’t fluent, yet scored 37 runs and surprisingly hit no boundary.

Pandey carried on and notched consecutive fifties in a mere 27 deliveries. Both Warner and Pandey perished in quick succession. Even as Warner was dismissed by Oshane Thomas, Pandey perished to Gopal after scoring 61 off 36 with nine fours. The Sunrisers’ innings stuttered a tad thereafter and it was Rashid Khan’s breezy 17 from eight balls that helped them post a competitive score on the board.

The Royals romp home

The Royals had a new opener in Liam Livingstone and him along with Ajinkya Rahane came out all guns blazing. The duo made use of the mandatory powerplay and scored 60 runs in it. Livingstone was the more attacking of the two and he raced away to 44 off 26 balls with four boundaries and three sixes. Rashid Khan was expensive in his first over, but he made amends, picking up Livingstone’s wicket.

Rahane hot four boundaries and scored 39 off 34 with four fours and one over-boundary. Shakib nipped him out in the 12th over. Then, Sanju Samson and Steve Smith put their heads down and kept pegging away at the target. Smith was nipped out by Khaleel Ahmed for 22, but by then the writing was on the walls for Williamson’s men. Samson remained not out on 48 to script victory for the home team.

Here is how Twitter reacted

Hadn't seen Liam Livingstone bat but had heard a lot about his ability to hit a cricket ball. He got his favoured batting position today and has shown why he had that reputation.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 27, 2019

Liam Livingstone is one of several talented young English batsmen who can’t get in the ODI squad #IPL #IPL2019 https://t.co/CM1Fv1LnHs
— Warren Tarling (@wozzajt) April 27, 2019

Rahane , Buttler , Samson , Tripathi , Livingstone , prashant chopra , manan vohra.
7 openers in a team.
What was RR thinktank planning during the auction ?#IPL2019 #IPL #RRvSRH #RR
— Ankit🏏 (@CricAnkit_7) April 27, 2019

#Livingstone has played a blinder of an innings tonight! Where was he all this while? Loved his shot making with my favourite #TooYumm flavour. #GetBaked
— Hamid (@hamidshaikh4321) April 27, 2019

Looks like Livingstone snapped his fingers, halving the chances of SRH going into the play offs.
— Bollywood Gandu (@BollywoodGandu) April 27, 2019

Thanos have to pick one more stone!! @liaml4893 (Livingstone) Missed his half century with 6 runs but a brilliant knock👌🏻👌🏻 #RRvSRH @rajasthanroyals @SunRisers
— Sai Kumar (@VenkatAbhimanyu) April 27, 2019

This year Liam Livingstone played in place of Ben Stokes.
But from next year Ben Stokes will play in place of Liam Livingstone.
Liam is going to be next Superstar ………#RRvSRH
— KAAL Bhairav (@KaalBhairav123) April 27, 2019

Livingstone looked pretty good there, and against Rashid of all bowers. Should be looked at as the answer to England’s T20 middle order issues.
— Kieran (@BerbaSpin) April 27, 2019

And Sanju Samson finishes it off in style 😍😍😍
What a victory for #RR
They end their home games on a bang!#RRvSRH #HallaBol
— Vinesh Prabhu (@prabhu_vinesh) April 27, 2019

Samson match winner🎉🎉🎉 #RRvSRH
— Loges 💔💔 (@iamloges49) April 27, 2019

Sanju Samson didn't hit a 💯, but he had a good play tonight. Scored 48* #RR #RRvSRH
— Vishnu Narayanan (@visnarayanan) April 27, 2019

No Buttler, Stokes and Jofra Archer yet RR win easily by 7 wickets and push KKR to no. 7….
Sanju Samson has scored 153 runs in 2 games against SRH this season.#IPL2019 #RRvSRH pic.twitter.com/HA9uSMI9ch
— Abhijeet ♞ (@TheYorkerBall) April 27, 2019

#RR wins. #CSK qualifies. #IPL
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) April 27, 2019

Australians today:
David Warner – Streak of five consecutive fifties came to an end.
Ashton Turner – Streak of five consecutive T20 ducks came to an end.#IPL2019 #RRvSRH
— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats) April 27, 2019

Back-to-back victories for us as we move on to the last 2 games of the season!
How are you feeling, Royals? Get those GIFs going! #HallaBol #RRvSRH #RR pic.twitter.com/oxd03p0AMU
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) April 27, 2019

Scoring 600+ runs in an IPL season multiple times:
Chris Gayle (2011, 2012, 2013)
Virat Kohli (2013, 2016)
David Warner (2016, 2017, 2019) #SRH #RRvSRH
— Deepu Narayanan (@deeputalks) April 27, 2019