So, that is it from me, Karthik Raj and co-commentator, Akshay Bhide for this match. Join OneCricket for the coverage of the remainder of this IPL too
Manish Pandey: There were enough talks around our middle order. High time for us to perform. I just wanted to stay on the wicket and play my shots. Really happy that it came off today. We had the opportunity to win the game for SRH, really happy I'm standing here. We had plans to see Jofra off. We had a plan to take on the leggies and Indian bowlers, and it paid off. The first ball I middled through covers and I tried to keep my shape. I was hitting it well and I tried to get my team over the line. Vijay was also long due and he stepped up batting at 4. We are trying to take positives from this match and we'll try to keep it up for the rest of the tournament.
Manish Pandey has been named as the 'Man of the Match' for his stroke-filled 83 off 47 balls.
David Warner: I think the way we started was fantastic. We were able to bring it back after the powerplay. It's been a complete game, we have been asking for. Good to see two guys getting the reward. I was frustrated. You try hard to get through the first over, but with someone bowling at 150ks, you can't do much. You can take him on. We saw a lot of dew last night during training, and it came in again. Jason adds strength to our bowling, his experience, he's an all-round package. He's a great inclusion. We do have a middle order, there are always question on it. We haven't lost early wickets before, so they haven't got a chance. I have said in the past, we are a better defending team. You have to back yourself, no matter what. This cold weather and dew comes in.
Steven Smith: "I thought we started really well. Jofra obviously taking the tow big wickets early. But we couldn't keep the foot on the pedal. The wicket got better. There was a fair bit of dew on for some reason. The third over for Jofra was on my mind, discussed it with a couple of guys. In hindsight, yeah, should have bowled a third straight over."
Comments from the skippers
SRH's first successful chase this year, and how convincing. And how it has come despite failures for the two big overseas batsmen. Despite their limitations, SRH bowled smartly to keep RR in check before Pandey just ran away with the chase despite a red-hot Archer spell that left them down at 2 for nothing. He kisses his bat as he walks off. Which is just as well. Everything came off the middle tonight. This will leave RR in the all-but-out box with CSK. And RR will go into the bracket occupied by KXIP, and before this night, RR: in with an outside chance
It could be said that Steve Smith probably didn't take a necessary gamble by bowling a third Jofra Archer over in the Powerplay itself. With a low total on the board and Manish Pandey also looking in great touch, Smith had to use his strike bowler in order to get RR ahead in the game. However, he didn't do that and Pandey capitalised along with Vijay Shankar
The spinners, Rahul Tewatia and Shreyas Gopal slowed down the scoring rate to an extent but both Pandey and Vijay Shankar didn't fail to put away the bad balls. Pandey got to his fifty off just 28 balls but he continued to take on RR when the pacers came on. After starting slowly, Shankar also got to his groove with a flurry of boundaries against Shreyas Gopal and Jofra Archer. Eventually, the duo stayed till the end and finished the chase with 11 balls to spare
What a convincing victory for SRH!! Their chase of the 155-run target didn't get off to a great start as Jofra Archer breathed fire. The English pacer dismissed both Jonny Bairstow and David Warner within the first three overs to give Rajasthan a great start. However, the support pacers, Kartik Tyagi, Ankit Rajpoot and Ben Stokes bowled poorly and this helped Manish Pandey to take them on without too much risk. Credit has to be to given to Pandey on his own too as he showed exemplary intent.