IPL 2020: Match 40: Manish Pandey takes Sunrisers to the 5th position in the table

Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals both are at the brink. They can’t afford to lose any matches otherwise they would be out of the top 4 race. But then when you meet each other – one has to win and one has to lose. Whoever loses goes out of the tournament. IPL 2020 has panned out in such a fashion that the middle portion of the table is completely clogged and few teams are all jostling among themselves for the 4th spot. One of these 2 teams had to lose when they met each other in Dubai yesterday. I expected a close encounter.

So how did it go?

Here are my 5 points highlights from yesterday’s match.

1. Sanju Samson

After a great start to the season, Sanju Samson like the previous years just fretted away. Unnecessary risky shots and before anyone knew it – he lost his form. It’s the same story always with this highly talented cricketer. With so much competition around for the wicketkeeper slot – one should always have a high price tag against his wicket but letting go of such opportunities is costing him, dear. Yesterday he came in at one drop and with Ben Stokes struggling – he took the onus on himself to keep the scoreboard moving. To his credit, he was successful to a certain extent. He built a partnership with Ben Stokes but too much adventurism led to the downfall and he got out after scoring 36 which came off just 26 balls. He was the highest scorer for Rajasthan but if he had batted till the end Rajasthan Royals would have scored much more than what they finally ended up with.

2. Jason Holder

Sunrisers Hyderabad was without the services of Kane Williamson who got injured in the last match. They did a smart swap by bringing in Jason Holder who is now a genuine allrounder in Test Cricket. Holder’s bowling has also improved over the past few years and though he is not fast – his line and lengths are good and he always gets a good bounce from any wicket due to his height. Yesterday he opened the bowling and also bowled towards death overs. He made a great impact in the match by returning figures of 3/33 in the 4 overs he bowled. His scalps included Sanju Samson and Steven Smith and he played a big role in keeping the Rajasthan Royals score below par.

3. Vijay Shankar

Vijay Shankar had created a lot of furor in Indian cricket circles when he was preferred over Ambati Rayudu for the Cricket World Cup. He is a genuine batsman and a goodish medium pace bowler. An allrounder was what India was looking for and that’s why he got the nod. But he never did justice to his selection. As a batsman, he has never put the field on fire and other than one match against Australia is bowling has generally have had no effect. Yesterday he bowled well (to his credit he bowled well against KKR too). His figures of 1/15 in 3 overs was a pretty good return especially when he took the wicket of Jos Buttler. With the bat, he came in when the team’s score was 16 in the third over with Jofra Archer breathing fire. But, he held on and took his time to settle in and played a good steady hand, and built a match-winning partnership with Manish Pandey. Scoring a half-century in a winning cause must give him a lot of satisfaction.

4. Jofra Archer

You can’t keep Jofra Archer out of the game, can you? Rajasthan Royals first off all didn’t score much and when Archer came into bat the scoreboard read 135/6 with 10 balls in hand. He played 7 off those 10 balls and scored a vital 16 runs. Though in the final equation it didn’t matter much at least he had some extra runs to defend for himself. With the ball, he was breathing fire right away. Both the openers – Warner and Bairstow were sent back to the pavilion in the first two overs. His figures after 2 overs read 2/5. Rajasthan Royals had a great chance if only they could go past Manish Pandey. And here Smith missed a trick and didn’t give Archer the third over. This turned out to be a costly mistake because by the time he came back to bowl both the batsmen had got their eye in.

5. Manish Pandey

Manish Pandey had a very important role to play yesterday because Kane Williamson was not playing. It became even more important when Sunrisers Hyderabad lost 2 wickets within the powerplay. A wicket at that stage would have exposed the brittle middle order of the team. But Manish Pandey was in his zone yesterday. He didn’t let go of his aggression and with Shankar, he got great support who held up one end. They never let the run rate to creep up because a boundary was hit every over and the target was always in sight. He scored 83 of 47 balls which included 8 sixes. Manish Pandey had not been scoring a lot of runs this season and this innings would give a lot of hope to Sunrisers Hyderabad who needs him to perform if they have to reach the top 4.

So finally an easy victory for Sunrisers Hyderabad and it takes them to the 5th position in the table.

For Rajasthan Royals, the campaign is virtually over and that’s pretty sad because they are always emotional favourites due to season 1 of IPL in 2008.

What do you think went wrong for Rajasthan Royals yesterday? Should they have given one moreover to Jofra Archer?

Do share your thoughts.

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