SRH v RR: IPL 2023 result, highlights as Buttler, Boult inspire Rajasthan Royals demolition of Sunrisers Hyderabad

Dom Farrell

•
SRH v RR: IPL 2023 result, highlights as Buttler, Boult inspire Rajasthan Royals demolition of Sunrisers Hyderabad image

Rajasthan Royals demolished Sunrisers Hyderabad by 72 runs to get their 2023 IPL campaign off to an emphatic start.

Jos Buttler, Yashavi Jaiswal and captain Sanju Samson all hit half-centuries for the visitors, who bludgeoned a franchise record 85/1 from the powerplay after Bhuvneshwar Kumar — standing in for absent captain Aiden Markram — elected to bowl on a true surface.

A 22-ball knock featuring seven fours and three sixes was typically explosive from Buttler, who led the run charts last season.

Bhuvneshwar struggled, going wicketless at the cost of 36 from three overs but he was indebted to Thangarasu Natarajan (2/23) and Afghanistan left-armer Fazalhaq Farooqi (2/41) who bowled with intelligence and variation in the second half of the innings to shackle the Royals.

SRH vs RR live score

  Score  Overs
SRH 131/8 20
RR 203/5 20

Rajasthan Royals won by 72 runs

Chasing 204 for victory still represented a tall task and that quickly came to feel impossible when Trent Boult bowled Abhishek Sharma and had Rahul Tripathi sharply caught by Jason Holder at slip to complete a double wicket maiden first up.

Mayank Agarwal supplied the only resistance of note with 27 off 23 deliveries from the top of the order but was one of four victims to fall to Yuzvendra Chahal. The leg-spinner bowled masterfully to take 4/17 and go joint second on 170 with Lasith Malinga on the IPL’s all-time list of wicket-takers.

Impact substitute Abdul Samad (32 not out) and tailender Umran Malik (19 not out) provided some late entertainment thanks to a few lusty blows, but new head coach Brian Lara saw his Sunrisers side comprehensively beaten by last season’s runners-up. This was some statement of Rajasthan’s intent to go one better this time around.

MORE: Latest betting odds for IPL 2023

SRH vs RR as it happened from the 2023 IPL at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium

SRH 20th over (131/8): Saini the yippy impact sub will bring us home. Samad smokes his first ball into the stands. The third is slapped even further by Umran, who has 18 off seven! Front-foot no-ball as well. Poor fella. Samad clatters a four through backward point and follows up with another as he capitalises upon fine leg being inside the circle. Last ball, play and miss. It's an unbroken partnership of 36 off 14 deliveries, with Samad and Umran finishing on 32 and 19 respectively. A little bit of cheer for the Sunrisers fans who hung around until the end but, in truth, that's an absolute pasting and a strong statement of intent from Rajasthan.

SRH 19th over (108/8): Boult is back after starting all this misery for Hyderabad. Umran Malik aims a couple of lusty blows, garnering a four and a six to take the Sunrisers past their lowest ever score. Boult's final over costs 13 but he still finishes with superb figures of 2/21.

SRH 18th over (95/8): Chahal will wrap up a masterful spell.

WICKET! Bhuvneshwar b Chahal 6 (10): Beautiful delivery, a googly, and Chahal has four. From the moment Bhuvi called correctly at the toss, pretty much nothing has gone right for the stand-in SRH skipper. Chahal finishes with 4/17 and is now level with Lasith Malinga in second on the IPL's all-time wicket-takers list. Malinga is now Rajasthan's pace bowling coach, so that's one to chat about over victory drinks.

SRH 17th over (92/7): Holder's third over costs three singles. It feels like Sunrisers are simply trying to bat out their allocation now. They might even reach three figures.

SRH 16th over (89/7): Ravi Ashwin wrapping up a nice spell. The third umpire has a good long look at a stumping appeal against Bhuvneshwar. His foot is well inside the crease, but the question is whether he grounded it. Hyderabad's agony being dragged out here. Finally, the verdict is not out. Because all of that didn't take a pointlessly long amount of time, we'll now have a strategic timeout. Great.

SRH 15th over (85/7): Four runs off Asif's third over. He's only conceded 15. This match continues to circle the drain.

SRH 14th over (81/7): Chahal wraps up a masterful spell in style

WICKET! Rashid st Samson b Chahal 18 (13): Rashid's breezy knock comes to a close after he skips down the track, misses a swipe and Samson whips off the bails.

SRH 13th over (75/6): Sub Navdeep Saini is on to have a bowl for Rajasthan. The cricket equivalent of a football team bringing a striker off the bench when they're already 6-0 up. Oh, front foot no ball and it's a free hit. Saini then sends down a full toss over waist height. So it's another free hit. Probably wishes his skipper hadn't bothered at this point. Another full toss, legal this time, is launched over midwicket for four by Rashid. All in all, a complete shambles but it won't have any impact upon the result.

SRH 12th over (63/6): Oh, steady on Ravi! Ashwin goes to take the bails off, suggesting Rashid is backing up too far. The umpire appears to intervene and on we go. Samad hits a nice four over midwicket. Then there's a wide. And another. Weirdly ragged from Ashwin and Rashid hits a glorious straight six off the final ball.

SRH 11th over (52/6): We're at the stage when Hyderabad might want to think about how to minimise damage to their net run rate because the game is gone. Chahal keeps it tight with four singles and Agarwal decides he's seen enough.

WICKET! Agarwal c Buttler b Chahal 27 (23): Agarwal looks to go long down the ground but it's a wrong'un that he doesn't get hold of. Buttler is underneath it and makes no mistake.

SRH 10th over (48/5): Ashwin to continue. SRH's woes to continue as well...

WICKET! Phillips c Asif b Ashwin 8 (6): And another. This is an absolute hosing. Phillips reaches to drive, doesn't really get to the pitch at all and skews a straightforward catch to Asif at short cover. In comes substitute Abdul Samad. All the very best, young man.

SRH 9th over (46/4): Jason Holder with the ball in his hand.

WICKET! Washington c Hetmyer b Holder 1 (5): Holder hits that splice length he enjoys, Washington is cramped for room and sends up a simple catch for Hetmyer. Stick that innings alongside his three overs going at 10.66 and it amounts to a wretched day for the India all-rounder. SRH understandably call their strategic timeout.

New man Glenn Phillips heaves one over deep backward square. SRH are going to need plenty more of that, with the required rate now up to 14.36.

SRH 8th over (38/3): Back comes Asif. Spin, seam, whatever, it's not going anywhere. Asif even chucks in a wide and the over only costs four. The required rate is already up to 12.26, which looks close to impossible at the moment.

SRH 7th over (34/3): Chahal on now, spin from both ends, and Rajasthan keep the squeeze on.

WICKET! Brook b Chahal 13 (21): Quicker one from Chahal that skids on and Brook is bowled trying to cut. That was arduous stuff, to be honest, with the Yorkshireman progressing far slower than in his average Test innings.

SRH 6th over (30/2): Spin into the attack with Ravi Ashwin. Tidy stuff before Agarwal sweeps from outside off.

SRH 5th over (20/2): Save for that elegant early four, Brook has not been able to get going at all. He plays out three dots in a row to Boult before nudging a single to backwards point. Agarwal gets another but Boult has outstanding figures of 3/8 from his first three overs. At this stage the Royals were 73 without loss.

SRH 4th over (17/2): Holder into the attack and Agarwal has a look for a couple of deliveries before ploughing the all-rounder back over his head for four. Play and a miss to finish from Brook. SRH need a couple of big overs after those early setbacks.

SRH 3rd over (12/2): Boult offers a fraction of width and Agarwal creams it through extra cover. Not much else to report though. This has been a superb start from Boult.

SRH 2nd over (7/2): KM Asif shares the new ball. Harry Brook is already at the crease alongside Agarwal. He gets underway with a driven four down the ground. Appeal for a catch behind next ball but it comes off Brook's thigh pad. 

SRH 1st over (0/2): Here we go then. Boult to Abhishek

WICKET! Abishek b Boult 0 (3): Beauty from Boult, who get a yorker to swing away at the last moment. Abishek was absolutely no match for it.

WICKET! Tripathi c Holder b Boult 0 (2): It's a nightmare start for SRH. Holder take a special catch at first slip, diving back towards the keeper. Tripathi reviewed, presumably because he thought it was a bump ball, but that was similarly nonsensical to his choice of shot, coming down the wicket to heave at a swinging ball. A double wicket maiden - not a bad way to get going for Trent Boult this season!

Innings break: Any batting side would sign for 200+ at the start of play, but that somehow feels below par for Rajasthan after Buttler and Jaiswal brutally took SRH apart during the powerplay. The visitors' top three all made fifties but no one could kick on and Hyderabad pulled things back well. Adil Rashid bowled cannily to put the breaks on, while Natarajan and Farooqi bowled with variety and skill at the death as they finished with two wickets apiece. See you back here for the chase shortly.

RR 20th over (203/5): Farooqi takes the final over, which marks an admission from Bhuvneshwar that it's really not been his best day with the ball in hand. They run hard for a Hetmyer two first ball. Now an appeal for a catch behind but it's a bump ball. And another dot ball as Hetmyer can only thump a blokehole ball back to Farooqi. Next up it's a "yes, no, maybe, after you, sir" two that the RR batters somehow get away with. If it wasn't messy enough, the third umpire checks to see if Hetmyer was short on the first of those runs. He got there just. Farooqi throws in a length ball and it's obliterated down the ground for four. 200 up. Another hard run two and Hetmyer finishes with a useful 22 off 15 deliveries.

RR 19th over (193/5): Natarajan again, who will finish only bowling three overs and that suddenly feels like a dreadful waste. Dot ball and a run-out opportunity to start. Rajasthan really have lost all their momentum. 

WICKET! Samson c Abhishek b Natarajan 55 (32): Skipper Samson becomes the third Royals batter to fall in the fifties. He swings hard to try and take Natarajan over the midwicket fence but Abhishek Sharma holds on with a very smart piece of work.

Pace off from Natarajan, which does for Ashwin and also Phillips behind the stumps. Four byes. A single to finish. Rajasthan might not even make 200 here. You'd have got very long odds on that being a possibility when Buttler and Jaiswal were in full flow earlier.

RR 18th over (186/4): New man Hetmyer launches Bhuvneshwar over midwicket for six. The SRH captain drifts towards leg and, with fine leg inside the circle, Samson improvises to prod away his latest four.

RR 17th over (173/4): Natarajan back into the attack.

WICKET! Parag c Farooqi b Natarajan 7 (6): He comes back with a wicket as Parag top-edges to short third-man, where Farooqi gets under a high one to partially atone for his drop in the previous over. 

Samson goes through to a 28-ball 50. But there's little else to recommend about that over from an Rajasthan point of view.

RR 16th over (170/3): Rashid returns and that's in the slot. Samson sends a majestic straight drive way back into the stands. The England spinner responds with a wider one that consts a single. What will Parag make of him? He works a single of his own. Dropped! Samson doesn't pick the googly and skews to short midwicket, where Farooqi tumbling to his right can't hold on to a tough chance. Again, it's a good comeback from Rashid after going the distance first ball.

RR 15th over (160/3): Umran is back. You'd think he needs to go fuller...

WICKET! Padikkal b Umran 2(5): He does! Padikkal, who never got going, is caught on the crease and a delivery just shy of 150 kph rearranges his furniture.

The youngster Parag comes in and thunders a short one over extra cover for four. He swipes at an in-ducker and they does for Phillips as well, with Rajasthan running a leg bye. Now a wide. A load of all-sorts from Umran in this over and he sends down a half volley that Samson works for a single.

RR 14th over (151/2): Washington's previous over cost three overall. His first ball of this one is ploughed rows back by Samson, who rocked back to cart him down the ground. The all-rounder keeps a lid on things pretty well for the rest of the set.

RR 13th over (141/2): Back comes Farooqi, the only Sunrisers bowler with a wicket to his name and how they could do with another. Jaiswal steps away and gives himself room for another sumptuous four through the covers. Appeal for an edge behind next ball and we're going upstairs... there's an edge but the ball bounced just before Glenn Phillips got it in his gloves. Which makes the New Zealander's swift signal to take it upstairs all the more entertaining. 

WICKET! Jaiswal c Agarwal b Farooqi 54 (37): Farooqi gets his man next ball. He bangs one in short and Jaiswal can't get all of it, plonking a fairly routine catch to Agarwal at square leg. It was a nice knock from Jaiswal but he slowed up needlessly as 50 approached and RR need to get going again. Padikkal is the new batter and he digs out an excellent yorker to conclude the over.

RR 12th over (135/1): Washington returns after Buttler's earlier brutalism. Jaiswal looks to work one to the on-side but makes a hash of the line and length, playing all around it. Next ball he gets the single for his fifty, bringing fine domestic form in to the IPL but that's a very handy return from Washington.

RR 11th over (132/1): That's uncharacteristically rubbish from Rashid, who drops short and Samson deposits him into the stands. The rest of the over is milked for four singles.

RR 10th over (122/1): Umran continues and Jaiswal crashes him through cover point. That's a wonderful shot, maybe his best so far. A good bouncer from Umran cramps Samson who has a panicked swipe at it. The pace involved means it flies over the wicketkeeper's head for six. Play and a miss at one that's too close to cut from Jaiswal, who will have to wait at least a little longer for his half century.

RR 9th over (110/1): Rashid gets one to grip to enduce a play and a miss from Samson. Oh, and Jaiswal almost chops on from an under edge. Just five off a fine Rashid over that maybe deserved a little more.

RR 8th over (105/1): Umran Malik is on to bring some pace into the attack. He goes short with his thrid ball and Samson uppercuts stylishly for four. There's a bit more room from the next delivery and Samson again uses the pace to guide through third man and bring up his team's 100.

RR 7th over (93/1): Adil Rashid is on to try and step the flow, with RR skipper Samson the new batter. Jaiswal is well set and there's now onus on him to go big with Buttler back in the sheds. The England leg-spinner brings a little calmness to the carnage before Jaiswal threads him through backward point from the final ball of the over.

RR 6th over (85/1): Farooqi's slower ball is sent for four by Buttler, who plays and misses at a slower yorker. The next delivery is a moral victory for the bowler as Buttler edges. Nevertheless, it runs to the fence and Buttler has his half century off 20 balls. There's another beautiful boundary to split cover and mid-off. But hang on...

WICKET! Buttler b Farooqi 54 (22): Farooqi gets his reward for a probing few deliveries and gets one to nip back and castle Buttler. Boy, how Hyderabad needed that. It's still Rajasthan's highest-scoring powerplay ever in IPL and Bhuvi understandably calls for the strategic timeout. Wonder if anyone will ask the skipper why he decided to bowl when they have their huddle?

RR 5th over (73/0): Here's Natarajan with some left-arm seam. Buttler continues his productive policy of welcoming a new bowler by pumping them to the fence and smacks a four down the ground. There's a play and miss before he carves Natarajan through point for four more. That was a bit agricultural from Buttler but he cuts the next delivery to the fence and smokes the next through the covers. Brutal.

RR 4th over (56/0): Washington Sundar is into the attack with some off-spin, taking the pace off the ball in the hope that it might stop flying everywhere. Ah, well, the best laid plans... Washington plops his first ball short and Buttler thrashes him for a muscular leg-side six. And again from the next ball. After a Buttler single, Washington over-corrects, goes too full and is swept for four by Jaiswal. Harry Brook, who might like the look of this surface for later on, scampers around from long-off to prevent another boundary from the final ball of another costly over.

RR 3rd over (37/0): Dreamy from Buttler, who flicks a length ball from Bhuvi over wide midwicket for six. Now a misfield to allow two. A Buttler single brings Jaiswal back on strike. He hits an effortless shot through the on-side for four, following it up with another boundary. A play and a miss off the final ball brings some respite but that's 17 from the over

RR 2nd over (20/0): Farooqi shares the new ball and is looking to attack the stumps. However, midwicket is open and Jaiswal flicks four and runs three before Buttler does likewise. Farooqi drags his length back and Jaiswal clobbers him over wide long on for another four. A mighty hoick at the final ball doesn't get off the square but that's a very productive over for Rajasthan.

RR 1st over (6/0): Bhuvneshwar takes the new ball himself having elected to field. He thinks he might have caught behind first up but it glances Jaiswal's thigh pad. The next delivery also veers down the legside and Rajasthan are off and running with a wide. Jaiswal punches four down the ground. Buttler had the second-most prolific season in IPL history in 2022. This time around he starts off by playing out a trio of dots.

10 minutes until the first ball: Not long now, here are your teams in full.

Sunrisers Hyderabad: Abhishek Sharma, Mayank Agarwal, Rahul Tripathi, Harry Brook, Glenn Phillips (wk), Washington Sundar, Bhuvneshwar Kumar (c), Adil Rashid, Fazalhaq Farooqi, Umran Malik, T Natarajan

Rajasthan Royals: Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson (c & wk), Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, Jason Holder, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Trent Boult, KM Asif

30 minutes until the first ball: Sunrisers Hyderabad win the toss and will bowl first. Brook, Farooqi, Phillips and Rashid are the four overseas players for SRH, while Rajasthan select Buttler, Hetmyer, Holder and Boult. 

60 minutes until the first ball: The Impact Player rule means Rajasthan probably don't need a gun all-rounder to the extent they did last season. Nevertheless, adding someone like Jason Holder to your T20 lineup has never done any team much harm. Holder was let go by Lucknow Super Giants despite taking 14 wickets at a shade under 28 in 2022 so comes into the tournament with a bit of a point to prove.

90 minutes until first ball: Sunrisers will be led by West Indies great Brian Lara as head coach this season, following back-to-back eighth-place finishes. On the back of that, expectations are understandably low but they secured some exciting talent in the auction, most notably breakout England star Harry Brook. The Yorkshireman is likely to combine with Glenn Phillips in a potentially explosive middle order, with skipper Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen absent on international duty with South Africa.

120 minutes until first ball: Hello and welcome to The Sporting News' live coverage of Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League. Can Rajasthan, finalists last season, get off to a winning start?

MORE: IPL points table 2023: Live updated standings from the Indian Premier League as cricket superstars chase glory

SRH vs RR odds

Given their lowly finishes in the IPL over recent seasons, Dafabet have placed Sunrisers Hyderabad as the outsiders to win this clash with the Rajasthan Royals. 

Despite being on home soil at the Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium, the bookmakers clearly think that the visiting Rajasthan Royals will have too much firepower for the home side to deal with here.

With last season's purple cap winner Jos Buttler anchoring their batting lineup and 2022's orange cap victor Yuzvendra Chahal set to feature, we agree that the Royals will be difficult to beat in this opener. 

  SRH
win		 RR
win
Dafabet
(India)		 2.01 1.80

SRH vs RR team news

Bhuvneshwar Kumar will captain Sunrisers in their 2023 season opener, with designated captain Aiden Markram in South Africa for their ODI series against the Netherlands.

Fellow Proteas Marco Jansen and Heinrich Klaasen will also miss this match.

MORE: Full IPL 2023 squad lists including SRH and RR

Meanwhile, the Royals will be keen to see new additions Adam Zampa, Trent Boult, and Joe Root in action.

MORE: Make your IPL 2023 predictions and win prizes with Dafabet in Premier League Mania

SRH vs RR date, time 

Match Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals
Date Sunday, April 2
Time 15:30 IST

SRH vs RR TV, telecast details

Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals will be broadcast in several languages, across the following TV channels:

  • Star Sports 1, 2

MORE: Make your IPL 2023 predictions and win prizes with Dafabet in Premier League Mania

SRH vs RR live stream, mobile, online details 

Live streaming for Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals is provided free of charge, exclusively through JioCinema across a range of platforms. 

For mobile users, every IPL game will be available to stream for free via the JioCinema app, available on both Android and iOS devices. 

MORE: Make your IPL 2023 predictions and win prizes with Dafabet in Premier League Million Bonanza

WATCH: 20 Greatest T20 Players Roundtable

20 greatest T20 players
Sporting News

Dom Farrell

Dom Farrell Photo

Dom is the senior content producer for Sporting News UK. He previously worked as fan brands editor for Manchester City at Reach Plc. Prior to that, he built more than a decade of experience in the sports journalism industry, primarily for the Stats Perform and Press Association news agencies. Dom has covered major football events on location, including the entirety of Euro 2016 and the 2018 World Cup in Paris and St Petersburg respectively, along with numerous high-profile Premier League, Champions League and England international matches. Cricket and boxing are his other major sporting passions and he has covered the likes of Anthony Joshua, Tyson Fury, Wladimir Klitschko, Gennadiy Golovkin and Vasyl Lomachenko live from ringside.