JAIPUR: It was a story of two Australians and a West Indian at Sawai Mansingh Stadium here on Saturday. In the end, the Australians triumphed rather easily, putting Rajasthan Royals back on the winning track.
The eight-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad was their fifth victory in eight matches, four of them coming here at home. It would be difficult to say who had a bigger role to play on Saturday, Shane Watson or James Faulkner.
If the latter set up things nicely for the Royals with the tournament's first five-wicket haul, the veteran Aussie gave it the finishing touch with an unbeaten 98 off just 53 balls.
Watson carried on from where he had left in Chennai, showing the power of his arms with some hard sixes. Skipper Rahul Dravid gave him the initial support for a 74-run second-wicket partnership.
Earlier, Faulkner's stunning two-over spell left the Sunrisers gasping for breath. In those two overs, the medium-pacer pocketed both Shikhar Dhawan and Kumar Sangakkara to reduce the Hyderabad side to 19 for five within five overs.
That spell earned him three wickets for just six runs. He finished with five for 20 in his four overs, the best bowling performance in the tournament so far.
Here, spare a thought for the braveheart West Indian Darren Sammy, who came into the crease with Sunrisers staring at disaster and took them to a respectable-looking score of 144-9. It is another matter that Sammy's 60 was eventually dwarfed by Watson's innings.
It was an innings of contrasts when the Sunrisers batted after winning the toss. The underrated Ajit Chandila struck in the very first over, sending back Akshath Reddy.
That launched a dramatic sequence of dismissals, which saw the Sunrisers losing half their line-up within five overs and with just 19 on board, with Faulkner doing the maximum damage.
And when Kevon Cooper sent back Hanumana Vihari with his first ball of the match, the innings' seventh over, Sunrisers were in dire straits.
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