Left Arm Around

Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Rajasthan Royals by 44 runs in the second match of IPL 18 at the Rajiv Gandhi International stadium.

The hosts continued where they left off last year to post 286-6 in their 20 overs, the second highest score in the history of the IPL.

Openers Abishek Sharma and Travis Head set the tone with a blistering stand of 45 in 19 balls, before Head and keeper Ishan Kishan maintained the vicious onslaught.

Australian Head eventually departed for 67 to Tushar Deshpande, while Kishan would finish unbeaten on 106 from 47 deliveries.

The 26-year old made the perfect start to life in orange colours, striking a maiden IPL century in his first match for the franchise after leaving Mumbai Indians.

Quick-fire thirties from Nitish Kumar Reddy and Heinrich Klaasen added the finishing touches to a batting effort that left the Royals scratching for answers.

It was a record-breaking day for England seamer Jofra Archer- but for all the wrong reasons.

His figures of 0-76 from four overs were the most expensive in IPL history.

The likes of Fazalhaq Farooqi (0-49) and Sandeep Sharma (1-51) also struggled at the hands of SRH’s deep batting lineup.

Later, Kumar Sangakkara’s put up a resolute fight but finished well short in pursuit of 287.

They quickly slipped to 50-3 inside five overs after the early dismissals of Yashasvi Jaiswal, Riyan Parag and Nitish Rana.

However, captain Sanju Samson was not content to lie down as he and Dhruv Jurel combined in a counter-attacking stand of 111.

Both Samson (66) and Jurel (70) fell in the space of three balls, but a brilliant late-innings assault from between Shimron Hetmyer and Shubham Dubey gave the total respectability in defeat.

New signing Harshal Patel was the pick of the SRH bowlers with 2-34.

The Royals face Kolkata Knight Riders at home in their next game on Wednesday.

SRH return to action in Hyderabad against Lucknow Super Giants on Thursday.