Sanju Samson swashbuckling 102 went in vain, as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Rajasthan Royals by 5 wickets at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad on Friday.
After winning the toss and choosing to bat, Royals suffered an early jolt, by losing Jos Butler in the fourth over to Rashid Khan.
The pair of Samson and Ajinkya Rahane added 119 runs for the 2nd wicket, before Shahbaz Nadeem dismissed Rahane for a well made 70.
The 24 year old Samson attacked the Sunrisers Hyderabad best death bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar where he slammed 21 runs in the 18th over, and in the process brought up his first century in the Indian Premier League 2019. His knock of 102 runs came in just 55 balls with 10 fours and 4 sixes.
The former along with Ben Stokes added 64 runs in 25 balls, as Rajasthan Royals in the last 5 overs scored 76 runs thereby posting a competitive total of 198/2 in their allotted 20 overs.
Rashid Khan and Nadeem claimed a wicket each.
Chasing a target of 199, the pair of David Warner and Jonny Bairstow started magnificently as the duo added 110 runs for the opening stand, before Stokes broke through by claiming the wicket of Warner who was caught at deep fine leg by Dhawal Kulkarni for an electrifying 69.
Bairstow who was dropped at third man, was dismissed by Shreyas Gopal in the 11th over following a brilliant catch at the long off boundary by Kulkarni for a breezy 45.
Vijay Shankar and skipper Kane Williamson batted positively as the pair added 47 runs for the 3rd wicket, before Jaydev Unadkat dismissed Williamson. Gopal gave the visitors a glimmer of hope by claiming the wickets of Vijay Shankar and Manish Pandey in quick succession.
However Yusuf Pathan and Rashid Khan batted sensibly by putting on 34 run stand, with the latter hitting a four and six off Jofra Archer in the penultimate over, as the home side reached the target his team with six balls to spare.
Gopal was Rajasthan Royals best bowler as he bagged 3 wickets for 27 runs. Rashid Khan was declared the Man of the Match.
The ninth game of the Indian Premier League will be double header with Kings XI Punjab taking on Mumbai Indians at Chandigarh and Delhi Capitals squaring off against the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Feroz Shah Kotla stadium on Saturday.