Manish Pandey and Vijay Shankar were outstanding with the bat as they shared an unbeaten stand of 140 runs to help Sunrisers Hyderabad thrash Rajasthan Royals by eight wickets in the match no. 40 of Indian Premier League 2020 on Thursday.
Pandey smashed eight sixes in a blistering 83*, while Shankar hit six boundaries en route his 52* to help SRH cross the finishing line in just 18.1 overs in a must-win game for the Sunrisers.
The duo played intelligently especially when their team lost both their openers- David Warner, Jonny Bairstow, inside first three overs. Jofra Archer sent both of them back to reduce SRH to 16 for 2 inside three overs.
But before Royals could make further inroads in the game, Pandey and Shankar steadied the ship by working out singles, doubles and scoring boundaries at regular intervals.
In the end, SRH chased down the score with 8 wickets in hand and the win also them to acquire the fifth spot in the points table thus keeping their playoffs hopes alive.
Meanwhile, cricket fraternity and Twitterati were all praises for Manish Pandey and Vijay Shankar and here’s how they reacted:
What a knock by @im_manishpandey some of your shots were truly unbelievable! Looks like the place for the 4th is heating up! @SunRisers just showed the depth in batting! #SRHvsRR #IPL2020
— Kris Srikkanth (@KrisSrikkanth) October 22, 2020
Convincing win for @SunRisers tonight. Loved d way how #manishpandey played, showed positive intent which helped his batting overall and loved how #vijayshankar paced his innings really well. Great partnership between dis two #RR #SRHvsRR #IPL2020
— MANOJ TIWARY (@tiwarymanoj) October 22, 2020
Well done @im_manishpandey great inn 👌 @SunRisers vs @rajasthanroyals @IPL
— Harbhajan Turbanator (@harbhajan_singh) October 22, 2020
Convincing victory by @SunRisers top bowling and even better batting display by two Indian batters #manishpandey #vijayshankar
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) October 22, 2020
Pandey Ji. One of his best #IPL innings. And he’s played quite a few… #IPL2020 #SRHvsRR
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) October 22, 2020
The all-round performance of Vijay Shankar is the biggest plus. He had to be batting no 4 as an India player @SunRisers
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 22, 2020
Vijay Shankar in 2023 World Cup pic.twitter.com/OqK02WFuTl
— The Joker 🃏 (@Joker122018) October 22, 2020
Vijay Shankar who was playing slowly until that time after hitting RR’s best bowler Archer for 3 consecutive 4s pic.twitter.com/5EuxyXRPIK
— The Meme Makers (@the7mememakers) October 22, 2020