Rajasthan Royals made it three wins out of four and remain alive in IPL 2019 thanks to their seven-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in Jaipur. In Steve Smith's penultimate game as RR skipper this season, the hosts got the win that helped go level on points with fourth-placed SRH, having played a game more.
Here are the three major takeaways from RR' win over SRH:
Unadkat finally gets it right
In the absence of Jofra Archer, RR needed their most experienced pacer to step up. Jaydev Unadkat did just that as he finished with figures of 4-0-26-2, his best of the season. It was also the first time this season that he picked up more than one wicket.
After going in excess of 11 runs per over coming into this game, Unadkat showed why RR splurged on him ahead of the season as he bamboozled the SRH batsmen with his variations.
He conceded a four in the fourth he bowled and didn't concede another boundary after that. He backed up his brilliant bowling with fantastic fielding as well. Three catches, including one off his own bowling was evidence of his all-round impact on the day.
Same old story for SRH
Despite scoring 18 off the final over of the innings, SRH still managed only 39 from the last five overs. The four overs before the last over went for 5,6,5,5.
The difference between finishing with a flourish and limping towards the line is especially crucial on a pitch that is offering something for the bowlers.
From 103/1 after 12 overs, SRH simply couldn't get going. With two set batsmen at the crease, they would have wanted at least 180 but they ended up losing seven wickets and managed just 57 runs in the remainder of their innings.
In fact, if you remove the last over that went for 18, they scored at a run rate of 5.57 between the 13th and 19th overs. That has been the case all season and that is something they need to address if they are to qualify for the playoffs.
Playoff race continues to heat up
After the first two weeks, it looked as though the playoff race was a foregone conclusion. With RCB and RR losing at an alarming rate, it didn't look like it was going to be much of a contest.
But after losing six games in a row, RCB have won three in a row (four of the last five) and RR have themselves won three of their last four and remain in contention for a playoff spot.
SRH losing five of their last seven (including this one), KKR losing six in a row and KXIP losing four of their last five have helped that as well.
With just a few games to go, it is a sprint to the finish and it is anyone's guess as to who will finish with the final playoff spot.