Match 68 IPL 2013 – Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals
Date – Fri May 17
Time – 8:00 pm i.e 14:30 GMT | 20:00 IST
Venue –Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Uppal, Hyderabad
Toss – Sunrisers Hyderabad elected to bat
Result – Sunrisers Hyderabad won by 23 runs

Today in the 68th match of IPL 2013, Sunrisers Hyderabad won the toss and elected to bat first. Faulkner claimed two wickets in the second over of the innings leaving Sunrisers at 4/2 in 2 overs. With both openers Parthiv Patel and Shikhar Dhawan back, captain Cameron White and Hanuma Vihari had a huge responsibility on their shoulders but captain White got our on a duck leaving Sunrisers in deep trouble at 5/3 in 2.4 overs. Hanuma Vihari and Biplab Samantray then tried to revive Sunrisers prospects and the duo added 44 runs before Hanuma got out after scoring 19 off 28 balls. With 49/4 in 10.3 overs, Sunrisers needed some one to raise the run rate. Biplab Samantray and Darren Sammy then took the team score past 100 with superb knocks of 55 and 23 respectively. 13 ball 17 by Thisara Perera finally helped Sunrisers post a total of 136/9 in 20 overs.

Chasing 137 to win and make qualifying for Sunrisers hard, Royals got off to a good start as captain Dravid and Rahane added 39 in 7.3 overs before Rahul Dravid was run out by White for 25. This was the one wicket which change the course of the match as wickets started to fell at regular intervals. Ajinkya Rahane was the next to fall followed by Sanju Samson. At 51/3 in 11.5 overs, Royals still looked in command as they had Watson and Stuart Binny but Perera accounted for both of them leaving Royals half down at 65/5 in 14 overs. The middle order and lower middle order collapsed within 3 overs and Royals were in tatters at 85/8 in 17.1 overs. Kevon Cooper’s 26, the highest individual score from Royals in this match finally helped Royals to reach 113/9 in 20 overs and thus lose the match by 23 runs.

With this win, Sunrisers have moved one step closer to the playoffs. Kings XI Punjab are now out of the playoff contention and now Sunrisers will be hoping that Chennai beats RCB otherwise it would go to the net run rate. The team with better run rate will be the 4th team to qualify.

Match 68 IPL 2013 – Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals Scorecard