Pune, March 29 : Sanju Samson’s half-century, besides Devdutt Padikkal, Shimron Hetmyer and Jos Buttler’s cameos, powered Rajasthan Royals to post 210 for 6 against Sunrisers Hyderabad in fifth match of Tata IPL here on Tuesday. Samson brought up his scintillating 50 in just 25 balls, which was decorated with 5 sixes and 3 boundaries. With this he holds the record of hitting the most sixes for the franchise. Notably, it was his third consecutive fifty in IPL’s opening game. He was dismissed for 55 by seamer Bhuvneshwar Kumar after being caught by Abdul Samad. At the top, Devdutt Padikkal scored 41 and Jos Buttler 35, besides Shimron Hetmeyer blasted 32 runs off 13 balls in the death. For Hyderabad, their bowling was found wanting. Their bowling lineup packed with Romario Shepherd, Umran Malik and T Natarajan, gave away some freebies in the middle overs, while Washington Sundar struggled to get some purchase out of the pitch. Nevertheless, Malik and Natarajan bagged 2 wickets each, while Bhuvi and Shepherd managed a wicket each. Put into bat, Buttler survived on two occasions in quick succession off Bhuvi’s bowling who overstepped, negating the decisions by the straight umpire. The English batsman made good use of the opport ties and stitched a half-century stand for the opening wicket with Yashasvi Jaiswal. Hyderabad came back strongly and struck twice in quick succession to not only end the opening stand with the wicket of Jaiswal, but the wicket of the dangerous Buttler. With two new batsmen at the crease, Hyderabad looked to claw their way back, but Samson and Padikkal denied them the luxury. They cashed in on the easy-paced surface and took the attack to the Hyderabad bowlers. Their quickfire 73-run stand ensured Rajasthan’s smooth sail in the middle overs. The Hyderabad spinners leaked as many as 62 runs off four overs, conceding 2 boundaries and 6 sixes. Samson smacked two sixes in two balls off Sundar to bring up his half-century, off only 25 balls. He was well set for a late surge, but Bhuvi finally struck. He did not overstep this time as RR captain mistimed a pull and was holed out at long on. BDN RJ