Three interesting facts from the Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Rajasthan Royals match in IPL 2024

This was a nail biter which will be remembered for the way the fielding team came back into the match after the chasing side almost ran away with the result. Here are three very interesting parallels from yesterday's encounter between SRH and RR:

Make the second 10 count: Sunrisers Hyderabad only made 75 runs in their first 10 overs. In the next 10 they smashed 126 setting a target of 201 runs for the opposition. While bowling second, they gave away 100 runs for the loss of two wickets in the first 10 overs but launched a rear guard to take five wickets for 100 runs in the next 10 overs to restrict Rajasthan Royals to 200/7. Thus SRH's path to victory was built on making the second half of each innings count.
Revenge 16 years in the making: When Rajasthan Royals met Deccan Chargers in the inaugural IPL at Hyderabad, they coasted to victory through Shane Warne's final over heroics. Here's a comparison between this match and the one from all those years ago:

Royals needed 17 of the last over in 2008 while they needed 13 of 6 here. Who knew batting second would get so much more tougher after all these years?
Royals back then were being captained by Australia's Shane Warne while India's very own V.V.S. Laxman was at the helm of Deccan Chargers. In a complete role reversal, Pat Cummins from Australia is in-charge of SRH now while India's Sanju Samson is captaining the Royals. After all these years, we know one fact for sure, the side captained by an Australian always wins
The 19th over of the 2008 match was bowled by R.P. Singh and the final over was bowled by Andrew Symonds who was promptly taken apart by Shane Warne. The exact opposite of this happened in yesterday's match where Cummins bowled the 19th and Bhuvneshwar Kumar took the onus of seeing his side through in the final over. We have learnt another valuable fact here, if you are looking for sweet revenge, nobody can deliver it better than the Indians

Abhishek the dropper and Sharma the catcher: When Abhishek dropped a dolly from Riyan Parag on 24, that lost opportunity could very well have cost SRH the match and Abhishek a chance to act in a Telugu movie. But when all was thought to be lost, Sharmaji swooped into to pluck Dhruv Jurel's catch out of thin air. Sharmaji's heroics not only saved a certain boundary but also reignited his chances with Tollywood who won't ignore his Pan-Indian appeal.

As a Deccan Chargers supporter, I suffered the agony of defeat all those years ago but I was pleasantly surprised with this come-from-behind victory yesterday. Revenge is sweet but a great game of cricket which leaves you with a tale for the ages is sweeter than everything else. What did you think of yesterday's match and what were the parallels you could draw? Drop a comment!

Until Next Time,

Your Infrequent Cricket Analyst.

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