Shakib Al Hasan and Rashid Khan picked collective figures of 3 for 46 restrict Rajasthan Royals t0 125 before Shikhar Dhawan slammed a 33-ball half-century to make mockery of a small chase
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11:24pm And that's all we have tonight. Thanks for joining us and don't forget to return for Chennai's grand homecoming tomorrow. They're facing Kolkata Knight Riders. See you there!
Dhawan: I enjoy playing long innings. It benefits the team, it benefits me. I'm just trying to stretch the good form as long as possible. [About making up for Warner's absence] I've been playing more aggressively, not just in the IPL, but even for India in South Africa and Sri Lanka. I'm just continuing that formula. We have a very balanced side and we have all bases covered. That is the key. It's just the start of the tournament and we hope to keep the rhythm going.
Shikhar Dhawan is the Man of the Match.
Williamson: No doubt we miss Davey. Such a fantastic player for us but the guys were brilliant, all round in the field. A nice team performance. All the bowlers played their part. We picked up wickets at key times and we fielded well, which certainly makes difference. There are some areas we want to work at heading into the next match. I had the best seat in the house as he [Dhawan] hit it cleanly. His intent was brilliant and so was Saha's at the top of the innings.
Kaul: I was working a lot in the domestic season and in the nets and tonight it came off. It was a small total but it's tricky some times when you chase small totals. But our team has great experience and we did it. We are missing him [Warner] but the players are coping and they know what to do and when to do it. Thanks to god, everything's happening really well and I'm looking forward to the coming games.
Rahane: We thought 125 was on the lower side. 150 or 160 would have been great. Credit to our bowlers, they bowled well, they tried their best. We were 50 for 1 and me and Sanju decided to back our intents, but we lost too many wickets. We didn't get any partnerships. I'm unhappy with the drop but these things happen in cricket. This is the first game and we need to learn from our mistakes and move forward. We prepared ourselves really well and we're looking to get better.
11:06pm Utter domination from the home team. Clinical with both bat and ball and it's the kind of loss that can really suck the morale out of a team. Rajasthan Royals have had a forgettable return to the IPL.
The left-arm spinner held his own against destroyers of the white ball through clever variations in pace and lengths on a spicy Hyderabad deck
Shakib Al Hasan and Rashid Khan picked collective figures of 3 for 46 restrict Rajasthan Royals t0 125 before Shikhar Dhawan slammed a 33-ball half-century to make mockery of a small chase
They struggled against Rashid and Shakib, but things could've been much different had Rajasthan Royals not defied logic to decide their batting order
One returning franchise is already dominating the conversation this IPL, and now it's time for the other to come up on stage and say what's up
