Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) returned to winning ways after they beat Rajasthan Royals (RR) by eight wickets in Match 40 of the Dream11 Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Thursday.

Defending 154, RR were off to a fine start after Ben Stokes took a flying catch in the second slip to get David Warner out in the first over off Jofra Archer.

The right-arm pacer struck for the second time in the powerplay as he disturbed the timber to dismiss Jonny Bairstow in the third over.

Manish Pandey, though, came out all guns blazing. He creamed two fours in the fourth over bowled by Kartik Tyagi and followed it up with two sixes off Ben Stokes’ bowling in the fifth over.

Pandey went after Tyagi once again, hitting the young pacer for four and two sixes as SRH scored 18 in the final over of the powerplay to move closer to 60. He and Vijay Shankar completed a fifty-run partnership in the eighth over.

In the next over, Pandey cranked one more six and then brought up his fifty in 28 balls.

In the 11th over, Pandey and Vijay Shankar combined to hit three fours. A couple of overs later, the pair took SRH past hundred before completing the 100-run stand in the 15th over.

Vijay Shankar then took Archer in the 16th over, hitting three successive fours. In the next over, Manish creamed two sixes in the next two overs as SRH moved past 150 in the 18th over.

Vijay Shankar then closed out the game and, in that process, brought up his fifty, helping SRH seal an eight-wicket win with 11 balls to spare. While Vijay Shankar remained not out on 52, Manish hammered 83* off 47 balls, with the help of 4 fours and 8 sixes. The two put up an unbroken 140-run stand off 93 balls. 

Earlier, RR retained the same playing XI while SRH made two changes to their line-up, bringing in Shahbaz Nadeem and Jason Holder in place of Basil Thampi and injured Kane Williamson.

Robin Uthappa hit a delectable four on the final ball of the second over bowled by Holder and then, clipped one for a six before hammering a four in the next over off Sandeep Sharma.

While Ben Stokes survived a run-out scare in the same over, Uthappa did not in the next after Holder caught him short of his crease.

Sanju Samson, who joined Stokes in the middle, creamed two fours in the fifth over before RR moved to 47/1 after the end of the powerplay.

Stokes continued to ride his luck after Vijay Shankar could not hold on to a catch in the eighth over. In the next three overs, RR scored 20 runs.

While the duo of Stokes and Samson completed a 50-run stand in the 12th over, RR lost both in quick succession. First, Samson got out for 36 after Holder picked his first wicket of the match.

In the next over, Rashid Khan got Stokes out after the ball ricocheted off his pads and hit the stumps. While Steve Smith and Jos Buttler took RR past hundred in the 15th over, Vijay Shankar got Buttler out for 9 after the batsman was caught at backward point by Shahbaz Nadeem.

RR were 118/4 after 17 overs and needed some quick runs. Riyan Parag took on T Natarajan in the 18th over, hitting him for two fours and a six. However, SRH struck by through Holder as he dismissed both – Smith and Riyan Parag – in the penultimate over. While Smith was caught at long-on by Manish Pandey, Riyan Parag was dismissed after David Warner completed a fine catch running backwards from mid-off.

Jofra Archer played a cameo of 16* off 7 balls as RR eventually posted 154/6 on the board.

Brief Scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 156/2 (Manish Pandey 83*, Vijay Shankar 52; Jofra Archer 2/21) beat Rajasthan Royals 154/6 (Sanju Samson 36, Ben Stokes 30; Jason Holder 3/33) by eight wickets