When Manish Pandey (83 n.o. off 47, 4x4, 6x8) plays like this, you know why many feel he is yet to realise his potential. On a night when David Warner and Jonny Bairstow contributed just 14 between them, the Karnataka batsman assumed centrestage to keep alive Sunrisers Hyderabad's chances of qualifying for the IPL last four.
After Jofra Archer breathed fire in the opening stages to reduce Hyderabad to 16/2, the 31-year-old countered in thrilling fashion. The last over of power play, where he scored 14 runs off four balls off Kartik Tyagi, showed he meant business.
He also didn't let the spinners dictate the tempo, laying into both Rahul Tewatia and Shreyas Gopal. He was ably supported by Vijay Shankar (52 n.o. off 51, 4x6), another of the support cast who was accused of lack of form coming into form. Together, they made short work of the chase of 155.
They would have had to chase much more had Jason Holder not taken three wickets in his first match of this campaign. His variations and cutters asphyxiated Rajasthan Royals batsmen.
Brief scores: Rajasthan 154/6 in 20 ovs (Sanju 36, Holder 3/33) lost to Hyderabad 156/2 in 18.1 ovs (Pandey 83 n.o, Vijay 52 n.o.).