Rajasthan Royals, runner-up last year, got off to a rousing start in this IPL as they outplayed the Sunrisers Hyderabad in their 72-run win at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday.

In reply to the Royals’ 203/5 after they were asked to bat, all that the Sunrisers could manage was 131/8 as the Sanju Samson-led side simply outplayed their opponents.

In fact, the game was so one-sided that the Impact Players of both teams had little role to play. When Abdul Samad came in place of Afghanistan pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi, the Sunrisers had already lost half their side for 48 in 9.3 overs. There was hardly anything he could do at that stage with the required rate already Everest high.

For the Royals, it would have sufficed even if they didn’t bring their Impact Player into play, thanks to some superb bowling upfront by the likes of Trent Boult (2/21), Yuzvendra Chahal (3/17) and Jason Holder (1/16). When pacer Navdeep Saini went in for opener Yashasvi Jasiwal, the game was already in the Royals’ pocket with the Sunrisers reeling at 52/6 after 11 overs.

Explosive start

At the onset of the match, Jos Buttler (54 off 22 balls) took no time to get going. Striking seven fours and three maximums, together with solid support from Jaiswal (54 off 37 balls), Buttler helped the Royals romp to 85/1 in six overs. Thereafter, skipper Samson (55) and the in-form Jaiswal ensured their team kept progressing steadily with a 54-run stand for the second wicket.

The Royals couldn’t quite finish as well as they would have liked to, but Boult pushed the Sunrisers further back in the very first over of their reply. Boult cleaned up Abhishek Sharma and then had No.3 Rahul Tripathi taken brilliantly at slip by Holder in a double-wicket maiden over.

Then Royals' leg-spinner Chahal bowled a skidder to fox IPL debutant Harry Brook, while Washington Sundar and Glenn Phillips too fell soon after off Holder and Ravichandran Ashwin.

With the asking rate climbing, it was already sunset for the Sunrisers.