IPL 2021, RR vs SRH as it happened: Buttler’s genius powers RR to 55-run win over SRH

After 20 overs, SRH 165/8: Rajasthan Royals win by 55 runs. A big win for them. Their batting effort by powered by Buttler’s genius and then, SRH just didn’t have enough class in their batting line-up.

After 19 overs, SRH 158/8: Almost over now.

After 17.2 overs, SRH 143/8: WICKET! Mustafizur strikes again with his slower ball. Rashid Khan is gone for a duck, caught on the boundary line by Morris.

After 17 overs, SRH 142/7: Another wicket for Morris. Jadhav went for the big shot, missed and have the bails dislodged.

After 16.3 overs, SRH 142/6: WICKET! Samad (10) walking back after being brilliantly caught by Rawat. The fielder had to run back a fair bit before taking the catch.

After 16 overs, SRH 140/5: Sakariya with another decent over as the equation becomes even tougher for SRH: 81 runs needed off 24 balls

After 14.2 overs, SRH 127/5: WICKET! Mustafizur with a nice slower ball does the trick. Nabi (17 off 5) went for another big shot, but it just went up and was caught easily.

After 14 overs, SRH 126/4: 17 runs from the Tewatia over. Nabi has come in and hit some big shots to reach 17 off 4 balls. Sunrisers Hyderabad need 95 runs in 36 balls.

After 12.5 overs, SRH 105/4: WICKET! Williamson (20 off 21) picks out the man in the deep. Tyagi gets the big wicket. Is that the game?

After 12 overs, SRH 100/3: Sunrisers Hyderabad need 121 runs in 48 balls. Someone has to go pretty crazy for them. Can Williamson be that man? Can Kedar do it?

After 10.4 overs, SRH 85/3: WICKET! Morris strikes to send back Vijay Shankar (8 off 8). The slower ball got big on the righ-hander and the attempted shot went straight to long-on. Easy catch.

After 10 overs, SRH 82/2: It was spiralling out of control by RR have done well to drag this back a little. Remember, SRH don’t quite have a Pollard in their line-up.

After 9 overs, SRH 74/2: Sakariya with a superb over – just 4 runs off it. Williamson and Shankar in the middle now.

After 8 overs, SRH 70/2: WICKET! The over didn’t start very well for Tewatia but it sure has ended up. The in-form Bairstow (30 off 21) walking back. He hit that straight to Rawat at long-on. Big wicket for Tewatia and RR!

After 6.1 overs, SRH 57/1: WICKET! The Fizz strikes right after the break. Went off the pads onto Pandey’s stumps to dislodge the bails. The right-hander made 31. Williamson is in next.

After 6 overs, SRH 57/0: End of the Powerplay overs and SRH have done well. Pandey (31 off 19) and Bairstow (24 off 17) have both done their bit in very good batting conditions.

After 5 overs, SRH 46/0: Tyagi lost his bearings a little. His pace has been impressive but his line not so much in this over. A bit too wide and then into Pandey, who helped himself to two sixes.

After 4 overs, SRH 30/0: Sakariya could have had a wicket but Buttler failed to hold on to a tough chance while running back. Bairstow survived and hit the next ball for four. Big miss for RR given how dangerous Bairstow can be. 16 runs off the over.

After 3 overs, SRH 14/0: Just three runs from the Tyagi over. The youngster is working up a good pace and his short balls have surprised the batsmen.

After 2 overs, SRH 11/0: A four off the first ball from Mustafizur for Bairstow but the left-armer came back well after that.

After 1 over, SRH 4/0: Good start by Kartik Tyagi. Pandey got one four in the over but it wasn’t quite intended.

Manish Pandey and Jonny Bairstow to open the innings for SRH. RR have never lost after getting 200+. Big chase coming up!

After 20 overs, RR 220/3: 11 runs off the final over thanks to a six off the last ball. Shankar tried but Miller was upto to the challenge and RR will walk back feeling pretty good about themselves. SRH, on the other hand, will be missing David Warner.

After 19 overs, RR 209/3: WICKET! Buttler drags one back onto his stumps. Sandeep Sharma gets the wicket but this was some outstanding hitting. His innings of 124 off 63 was simply astounding. 11 fours. 8 sixes.

After 18 overs, RR 185/2: Parag comes in and gets a six early. Just two overs left in the innings and RR would love to get their total past the 200-run mark.

After 17 overs, RR 172/2: 100 off 56 balls! Buttler gets his first IPL century!! At one point, he had 42 off 37 but he just took off after that.

After 16.4 overs, RR 167/2: WICKET! Samad takes a well-judged catch right on the boundary line to end Samson’s innings (48 off 33). Vijay Shankar gets the wicket – bowled it wide and it was a slower ball too.

After 16 overs, RR 159/1: RR are motoring along but they should know that this is a very good batting surface. They still need a couple of really big overs to put pressure on the Warner-less SRH batting lineup.

After 15 overs, RR 146/1: 1 6 4 0 4 6 – 21 runs off the Nabi over. This is why Williamson was holding him back but perhaps he held him back for too long. He let Buttler and Samson find their rhythm and this is going to hurt SRH now. 69 runs in the last five over for RR.

After 14 overs, RR 125/1: Another big over for RR – 14 runs off the Khaleel over as Buttler starts to look more confident in the middle. The RR opener hit his third six off the innings in the over.

After 13 overs, RR 111/1: 17 runs off the Sandeep over as we going in for another strategic timeout. Buttler got to his 50 off 39 balls. The RR opener is just starting to find his rhythm and his team will want him to keep going till the end.

After 12 overs, RR 94/1: One nice paddle scoop for Buttler in the Khaleel over but RR need the opener to be at his 360 degree best for this point on. 42 off 37 is just not good enough.

After 11 overs, RR 86/1: Nine runs from Rashid Khan’s final over. He is done for the day. 4-0-24-1 for the leggie.

After 10 overs, RR 77/1: DROPPED! In and out. Manish Pandey makes a mess of that. Samson (24 off 15) hit that straight to him. Big miss. Solid over by Sandeep otherwise.

After 9 overs, RR 71/1: Rashid rolls on. Into his third over already but he has given little away. He has just one over left and Williamson will hope he can break this dangerous stand.

After 8 overs, RR 67/1: The 50-run stand between Buttler and Samson has come up off 31 balls. RR have a superb platform now but they need to find a way to keep the momentum going. Time for a strategic break.

After 7 overs, RR 60/1: Shankar’s first over is a big one for RR. Two sixes in the over as RR make it an 18-run over. Rajasthan needed this.

After 6 overs, RR 42/1: Nine runs off the Bhuvi over. It has been a decent start for RR – not too great, not too bad. But the Powerplay overs are now done. Buttler (17 off 17) has to get going now. Samson has 8 off 6.

After 5 overs, RR 33/1: Shankar missed what could have been a catching opportunity. Buttler smashed it towards long on and the Shankar took a second too long to go for the catch. Just 4 runs from the Rashid over.

After 4 overs, RR 29/1: Khaleel into the attack and Sanju Samson hit the first ball bowled to him for a six. Just picked it up and casually deposited it in the stands. Another four followed later in the over for Buttler.

After 3 overs, RR 17/1: WICKET!! A very different challenge for Rashid. But if he is going to bowl in the Powerplay, batsmen will look to attack him and that means wicket-taking opportunities too. Jasiwal (12 off 13) looked to attack him but in the end, fell while trying to pull the ball. He was late on it and was trapped LBW.

Rashid Khan into the attack early! Will he get wickets or will RR look to attack him too?

After 2 overs, RR 5/0: Sandeep Sharma follows up the good first over with a fine over of his own. RR taking their time in the early going.

After 1 over, RR 2/0: Bhuvi with the new ball and he is bang on target in the first over. Just two runs from it. SRH will be glad to have him back in the ranks.

RR openers are walking out. We are almost ready for the game to begin. Will Buttler get going?

Playing XIs: Three changes for SRH as Nabi, Bhuvi and Samad are back. Warner, Suchit and Kaul miss out on this one. Two changes for RR as Unadkat gets a rest and Tyagi comes in. Anuj Rawat is making his debut in place of Shivam Dube.

Rajasthan Royals XI: J Buttler, Y Jaiswal, S Samson, A Rawat, D Miller, R Parag, R Tewatia, C Morris, K Tyagi, C Sakariya, M Rahman

Sunrisers Hyderabad XI: A Samad, J Bairstow, K Williamson, M Pandey, V Shankar, M Nabi, K Jadhav, R Khan, S Sharma, B Kumar, K Ahmed

Toss: Sunrisers Hyderabad have won the toss and they will have a bowl first. Williamson confirms that Warner will sit out. Bhuvneshwar is back too.

2:46 pm: Tom Moody has confirmed that ex-skipper David Warner won’t be part of the SRH playing XI today.

Hello and welcome to our coverage of the match between Sunrisers Hyderabad and the Rajasthan Royals. The campaigns of both teams are in complete shambles and they will square off today trying to find some form and consistency going into the second phase of the Indian Premier League.

Ahead of the clash, SRH took over the captaincy from David Warner and handed it to Kane Williamson. The franchise, in their media release, also said that they will change their overseas combination for RR clash.

The Royals have won two out of their six matches so far while the SunRisers have one victory from six games. No wonder, RR are placed seventh while SRH occupied the bottom slot in the IPL 2021 points table.