Sunrisers Hyderabad emerged victorious in a high-scoring thriller, defeating Rajasthan Royals by 44 runs in their IPL 2025 clash at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. Chasing a mammoth 287, Rajasthan Royals fought valiantly but ultimately fell short against an inspired SRH bowling attack.
The chase started on a disastrous note for the Riyan Parag-led side, losing Yashasvi Jaiswal (1), Riyan Parag (4), and Nitish Rana (11) in quick succession. A 111-run partnership between Sanju Samson and Dhruv Jurel briefly revived RR’s hopes, with both batters notching up well-compiled half-centuries. However, the ever-rising required run rate forced errors, leading to their dismissals and effectively sealing SRH’s victory.
Earlier, Ishan Kishan’s unbeaten 106 off 47 balls powered SunRisers Hyderabad to 286/6, the second-highest total in IPL history. Kishan, along with Travis Head (67) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (30), kept the scoreboard ticking, while Heinrich Klaasen’s quickfire 34 off 14 balls added the finishing touches. The carnage began in the powerplay, where SRH raced to 94/1 after Abhishek Sharma’s early departure. Head and Kishan continued their aggressive approach, registering rapid half-centuries to keep the pressure on Rajasthan.
Earlier in the evening, Riyan Parag won the toss and opted to bowl first in Match 2 of IPL 2025, only to be met with an SRH batting masterclass that proved too much to handle.
Ishan Kishan's blitzkrieg trumped the heroic efforts from Sanju Samson and Dhruv Jurel as Sunrisers Hyderabad buried Rajasthan Royals under a deluge of runs to start its IPL 2025 campaign in style with a 44-run win here on Sunday.
After Travis Head teed off with a 31-ball-67 adding 94 for the opening stand with Abhishek Sharma, Kishan (106 not out off 47 balls) smashed a 45-ball-100 in his first appearance for the new franchise as Sunrisers Hyderabad scored 286 for 6, their second highest total in the history of IPL.
But Royals were never in hunt as they finally managed 242 for 6 in their 20 overs and their effort will certainly help their net run-rate.
At a sultry Hyderabad, Royals' inexperienced skipper Riyan Parag committed a harakiri by opting to bowl on the flattest deck on offer in IPL and this decision could come back to haunt them at the business end of the tournament.
In a tale of three flamboyant keeper-batters, although two of them didn't keep on the day, Samson (66 off 37 balls) and Jurel (70 off 35 balls) did make full use of a belter by at least scaring the SRH fans during a stand of 111 in just 9.5 overs.
While Sunrisers were always favourites to win the run-fest, the match decisively turned in two overs --11th bowled by Adam Zampa (1/48 in 4 overs) and 12th sent down by skipper Pat Cummins (0/60 in 4 overs) which yielded only seven runs cumulatively.
Pacer Harshal Patel (2/34 in 4 overs) understated brilliance at the back-end also needs an honourable mention.
The difference became the number of dot balls consumed in the end.
While Royals managed only 25 dot balls during SRH innings, Cummins and his men were able to bowl 15 more.
The dot balls accumulated during the two overs did increase the pressure.
Even though Jurel got three sixes off Simrajeet Singh (2/46 in 3 overs) in the 13th over, the pressure of the asking rate suddenly increased.
But wily Harshal, always a go-to bowler when captains need a change of pace, got Samson and within another couple of deliveries Jurel was gone too while trying to slog Zampa and the contest effectively ended.
Shimron Hetmyer (42 off 23 balls) and Shubham Dubey (34 not out off 11 balls) also fought manfully but the target was just way too much.
The result was inevitable with Head taking the Royals attack to cleaners and then Kishan slaying their bowlers to beef up the SRH total.
Head and Kishan, who made his maiden IPL hundred, hit 20 fours and nine sixes between them.
SRH picked up from where they left the last season and could have bettered their own and IPL's best-ever total (287/3) but two wickets fell in the final over.
Jofra Archer, who went for 76 wicket-less runs in four overs, recorded the most expensive individual bowling figures in the history of the tournament.
Such was the dominance of Head during the front 10 and Kishan at the back-10 that Abhishek Sharma (24 off 11 balls) and fit-again Nitish Reddy's (30 off 15 balls) efforts were completely overshadowed.
Heinrich Klaasen (34 off 14 balls) got a tailor-made situation to clobber the clueless Royals bowlers towards the end.
Kishan, one of the core players in Mumbai Indians in the past few years, had a rough 2024 as he lost his central contract for ignoring domestic cricket for the cash-rich league and MI also didn't retain him.
The diminutive Patna man came back with a renewed vigour and packed a mean punch in his 'debut game' for the new franchise.
Playing seven games on such a shirtfront, Kishan will make a serious case for himself to make a comeback to the national side even though the T20 team bears a settled look.
The pitch had nothing in it for the bowlers and with little margin of error, the balls kept sailing into the stands with monotonic regularity.
Archer, Royals' most experienced bowler, looked a bit undercooked as he was sent soaring into the orbit by Head, who smashed 23 off his first over.
The Barbados-born Englishman didn't recover after that.
If Head swivelled him off his hips for a pick-up pull-shot, Kishan muscled him over extra cover and used his pace to scoop him over keeper for the same result.
If Archer's pace became his bane, Fazalhaq Farooqi (0/49 in 3 overs) and Sandeep Sharma's (1/51 in 4 overs) lack of it was an even bigger issue.
Mystery spinner Maheesh Theekshana (2/52 in 4 overs) found out that not every ground is Chepauk and he lost his length on multiple occasions.
Only Tushar Deshpande (3/44 in 4 overs) returned with some kind of a respectable stat at the end of the innings.
Sunrisers Hyderabad came agonizingly close to rewriting IPL history on Sunday, falling just one run short of their own record for the highest-ever total in the league. With five balls left, 286 on the board, and momentum on their side, SRH looked all set to shatter their previous mark of 287/3, achieved against Royal Challengers Bengaluru last season. But Rajasthan Royals' Tushar Deshpande had other ideas, striking twice in two deliveries to halt SRH’s record-breaking charge.
With their latest batting onslaught, SRH became the undisputed kings of mammoth T20 totals, registering their fourth score of 250 or more—more than any team in T20 history. They surged ahead of the Indian men’s cricket team and English club Surrey, both of whom have achieved the feat three times. Given their rampage last season, where they smashed three such totals, SRH's batting juggernaut shows no signs of slowing down.
For Rajasthan Royals pacer Jofra Archer, the match was nothing short of a personal horror show. Making his IPL comeback after two years, the England quick had a day to forget, conceding 76 runs in his four overs without a single wicket—setting an unwanted record for the most expensive figures in IPL history. He surpassed Mohit Sharma’s 0/73 for Gujarat Titans last season, marking a brutal reminder of how unforgiving the IPL can be, even for the world’s best bowlers.
With SRH rewriting the record books and bowlers scrambling for cover, the 2025 IPL season has already set a blistering pace. And if this is just the beginning, cricket fans are in for a spectacle like never before.
Head-to-Head record
In 20 encounters, SRH hold the upper hand with 11 wins, while RR have only managed one victory in Hyderabad in five attempts.
W
(With inputs from agencies)
Playing XI
RR : Y. Jaiswal, N. Rana, R. Parag (C), S. Hetmyer, D. Jurel (wk), S. Dubey, M. Theekshana, J. Archer, T. Deshpande, S. Sharma, F. Farooqi.
SRH: A. Sharma, T. Head, I. Kishan (wk), N. Reddy, H. Klaasen, A. Manohar, A. Verma, P. Cummins (C), H. Patel, M. Shami, S. Singh.