Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) started their IPL 2025 season with a strong win over Rajasthan Royals in Hyderabad on Sunday, thanks to a fantastic batting display led by Ishan Kishan’s unbeaten century.
SRH's powerful batting lineup, which featured Ishan's century, helped them secure a comfortable 44-run victory over Rajasthan Royals. Despite a new season and some changes in teams, SRH’s performance felt familiar. Rajasthan Royals struggled with both their bowling and fielding, which put them on the back foot from the start. Rajasthan captain Riyan Parag’s decision to bowl first after winning the toss seemed like a mistake, especially playing against SRH at their home ground.
Abhishek Sharma gave SRH a great start, hitting five boundaries off Fazalhaq Farooqi before getting out to Maheesh Theekshana. SRH reached 50 runs in just four overs. Parag then brought Jofra Archer into the attack, but Travis Head immediately attacked, hitting Archer for four boundaries and a huge 106-meter six, exciting the home crowd. Head continued his aggressive batting, reaching a half-century off just 21 balls before Tushar Deshpande dismissed him with a slower ball.
Ishan Kishan, who had been playing a supporting role until then, stepped up and started hitting big. He smashed Archer for back-to-back sixes and quickly reached a blistering half-century off 25 balls in his SRH debut. Ishan kept the runs flowing and, in the second last over, hit two more sixes to bring up his maiden IPL century. With a total of 287 runs, SRH set a challenging target for Rajasthan.
Rajasthan Royals struggled right from the start. Simarjeet Singh dismissed both Yashasvi Jaiswal and Riyan Parag in his first over. Mohammed Shami then sent Nitish Rana back to the pavilion. However, Sanju Samson and Dhruv Jurel fought back, scoring fast half-centuries and building a 111-run partnership to keep Rajasthan in the game. But both fell quickly, with Samson getting out to Harshal Patel and Jurel to Adam Zampa.
Despite late efforts from Shubham Dubey and Shimron Hetmyer, Rajasthan couldn't keep up with the growing run rate. Although the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium is a ground where chasing teams usually have the advantage, SRH broke that trend and started their IPL 2025 campaign with a win.
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