CHENNAI: Fearless mindset. Expressing themselves. No second thoughts. Freedom, Enjoy batting. This is what Rajasthan Royals’ captain, Sanju Samson, wanted from his batting group on the eve of their opening Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
On Tuesday, at the Maharashtra Cricket Association stadium, after being presented with a flat deck and up against a Hyderabad attack that was generous and had only Bhuvneshwar Kumar posing a threat, Rajasthan showed their firepower.
In a top five consisting of Jos Buttler, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer, and Samson himself, the latter had the sort of characters who could play his desired brand of cricket.
Apart from Padikkal, who too didn’t take the pedal off the feet on Tuesday, all their batters can hit the top gear straight away. This sort of batting unit has its pros and cons. If it doesn’t get going straight-away, it can plant seeds of doubt and can force changes.
Which is why, from a purely confidence-inducing point of view, Rajasthan had an ideal day with the bat. And Hyderabad were sloppy too. Against such a batting line-up that is capable of inflicting heavy damage, all it takes is wickets with the new ball and there are few better than Kumar to make early inroads.
He found Buttler’s edge for a nought off the fifth ball of the first over, but only for the siren to go off. That was the first of four no-balls that Hyderabad bowlers delivered on the night.
Still at 13/0 in three overs, with Kumar in the middle of a miserly spell where he was making the ball talk, Hyderabad still seemed in control. But from there on it all went downhill as Buttler picked 21 runs of Umran Malik’s over.
The change of gears couldn’t have been more swift and easy. At the end of the powerplay, Rajasthan had 58 on board.
In the previous seasons, they would have had Rashid Khan to rescue, but failure to hold on to him and the absence of a quality spinner meant Kane Williamson needed his pacers to put the breaks.
However, Rajasthan were in no mood to take the pedal off. After Jaiswal departed in the first ball of the seventh over, Samson walked ahead of Padikkal to keep the momentum going and by his ninth delivery had a boundary and a six to his name.
While Hyderabad did manage to ensure Buttler and Samson didn’t stay together for long with Umran accounting for the former, Padikkal wasn’t showing any respite either.
Originally an opener who struggled to get boundaries going in the middle-overs, walking at No 4, Padikkal’s innings was a revelation in terms of buying into the Rajasthan’s philosophy.
A 73-run stand off just 41 deliveries between Samson (55, 27b, 3x4, 5x6) and Padikkal (41, 29b, 4x4, 2x6) crushed Hyderabad’s souls.
And whatever little life was left in them was brutally buried by Hetmyer (32, 13b, 2x4, 3x6).
It would be too early to say Rajasthan have finally managed to crack the code, but these are encouraging signs for a team that looks to play to a template.
While a total of 210 conceded will not portray a good picture, Hyderabad bowled as many as 50 dot balls (eight maiden overs) but still Rajasthan managed to score 210 off just 70 deliveries thanks to 14 sixes and 16 fours which alone fetched 148 runs off just 30 deliveries.
It is the sort of brand that Samson plays, the sort he wants his batting unit to play. That he set the tone in the first game himself would do a world of good for Rajasthan, who defended 210 without breaking a sweat.
Brief scores: RR 210/6 in 20 ovs (Samson 55, Padikal 41, Buttler 35, Hetmyer 32) vs SRH 149/7 in 20 ovs (Markram 57 n.o, Washington 40, Chahal 3/22).