Manish Pandey’s brilliant 61 went in vain, as Sunrisers Hyderabad went down to Rajasthan Royals at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur on Saturday.
Rajasthan included Liam Livingstone and Ashton Turner for Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer, while Hyderabad brought back Wriddhiman Saha and Kane Williamson.
After being sent into bat by RR skipper, Sunrisers new opening pair of Williamson and David Warner made a steady beginning as the duo added 28 runs for the first wicket, before the latter was bowled by Shreyas Gopal.
Manish Pandey and Warner stabilized the innings by adding 75 runs for the second wicket, before the former was dismissed by a brilliant catch by Smith off Oshane Thomas.
Pandey took on the Rajasthan bowlers with some breathtaking shots, before falling to Shreyas Gopal for a blistering knock. His knock came in just 36 balls with 9 hits to the fence.
Hyderabad lost a bit of momentum as they lost wickets of Vijay Shankar, Deepak Hooda, Wriddhiman Saha and Shakib Al Hasan in succession, as the home side from a respectable 121/3 slumped to 137/7.
Rashid Khan scored a quickfire 17 off 8 balls, to lift Hyderabad to a respectable 160/8 in their allotted 20 overs.
For Rajasthan Royals Varun Aaron, Thomas, Gopal and Jaydev Unadkat bagged 2 wickets each.
Chasing a target of 161, Royals opening duo of Ajinkya Rahane and Liam Livingstone got Rajasthan off to a fantastic start as the pair added quickfire 78 runs in 55 balls, before the latter was dismissed by Rashid Khan for a quickfire 44.
In the 12th over, Rajasthan lost the in form Rahane who was caught at long off by Warner of Shakib.
The pair of Sanju Samson and Smith stabilized the innings by adding 55 runs for the third wicket stand to take the home side within touching distance of victory, before the skipper was dismissed by left arm fast bowler Khaleel Ahmed for 22.
The 24 year old Samson along with Ashton Turner ensured that there were no further hiccups,as Rajasthan reached the target with 5 balls to spare.
Jaydev Unadkat was declared the Man of the Match.
The 46th Match of the Indian Premier League will be a double header with Delhi Capitals taking on Royal Challengers Bangalore at Delhi, and Kolkata Knight Riders squaring off against Mumbai Indians at Kolkata on April 28, Sunday.