Sunrisers beat Royals by 9-wicket in IPL

HYDERABAD, Apr 10 (AP): Sunrisers Hyderabad spoiled Rajasthan Royals' return to the Indian Premier League in a thumping nine-wicket home victory on Monday.
Hyderabad didn't miss banned skipper David Warner as Shikhar Dhawan, dropped before scoring, and new captain Kane Williamson shared an unbeaten 121-run stand to a winning 127-1 in 15.5 overs. Dhawan blazed an unbeaten 77 off 57 balls, including 13 boundaries and a six, while Williamson was unbeaten on 36, hitting three fours and a six.
Star Bangladesh allrounder Shakib Al Hasan (2-23) started the Rajasthan slide when he removed Samson and Rahul Tripathi in the 14th over. Rajasthan's multimillion dollar signings, Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler, failed in their team's sub-par total of 125-9 after being put in to bat by Williamson, who replaced Warner after the latter was caught in a ball-tampering scandal last month.
Rajasthan, returning after a two-year ban due to a betting scandal, struggled to put on partnerships in the absence of its own banned captain, Steve Smith.