Bottom-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by four runs in the final IPL thriller in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, putting an end to their hopes of finishing in the top two.
Bottom-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by four runs in the final IPL thriller in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, putting an end to their hopes of finishing in the top two. For only their third victory in the IPL after posting an admirable 141 for 7, the Sunrisers Hyderabad returned to restrict Royal Challengers Bangalore to 137 for six. Devdutt Padikkal (41) and Glenn Maxwell (41) scored the majority of RCB’s runs in pursuit of the total, but the team continued to lose wickets and ultimately fell short. Jason Holder bowled a superb over to defend 18 off the last two overs, giving up just five runs and taking one wicket.
After blasting a six off Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s fourth ball in the final over, the South African was unable to pull off the crucial six that would have sent his team home victorious.
In the first innings, opener Jason Roy (44) and skipper Kane Williamson (31) put on 58 runs in 58 balls, but SRH lost three quick wickets for two runs in seven balls, and their total fell short of the required run rate.
RCB’s chase got off to a bad start when Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled a wicket-taking over with the wicket of Virat Kohli.
No. 3 was a bad choice because Daniel Christian was fooled by the slower delivery of No. 2 and No. 3 (Siddarth Kaul).
On 18, Srikar Bharat teamed up with Devdhutt Padikkal for a six and four-ball partnership with Devdutt Padikkal to help RCB reach 37-2 in six overs.
A brand-new type of tempo has emerged. When Umran Malik bowled his fifth over, he removed Bharat from the game, reducing RCB to 38 for 2.
Maxwell’s newcomer, Rashid Khan, made his intentions known by slamming him repeatedly. This time he sent the Afghan spinner long-on and swept him for another four runs.
Because Malik was consistently going over 150 kilometers per hour, RCB turned their attention to the other bowlers.
RCB fell to 109 for 4 in 16.5 overs after Padikkal made a poor decision, resulting in Maxwell being run out. The former was also caught at the boundary line.
Shahbaz Ahmed smashed two fours in the 19th over to reduce the equation to 29 runs off 18 balls. After Virat Kohli elected to bowl, Harshal Patel (3/33) and Daniel Christian (2/14) did the most damage for RCB.
Shahbaz Ahmed and Yuzvendra Chahal both bowled well, but George Garton gave up 29 runs in two overs for a single wicket.
Opening batsman Abhishek Sharma smashed Garton for four and six in the second over before being run out by Maxwell.
In the first over, Williamson struck for two boundaries in quick succession, the second coming off the bat of Siraj with a beautiful cover drive.
Shahbaz attacked the stumps but when he erred Roy was quick to pull him through square leg. The New Zealand captain was all elegance as he played two well-timed shots for two more hits to the fence off Garton.
SRH had a 50-1 lead after Powerplay. Shahbaz and Chahal, the Indian spinners, bowled in tandem, preventing the batsmen from moving their arms freely.
While Roy remained in the game, Patel used a cutter to remove Williamson’s stumps as SRH fell to 84 for 2 in the 12th over.
A six by Priyam Garg off Chahal was followed by an out by AB de Villiers as Christian bowled him. After Christian bowled his fifth ball, Roy was out for the count after a sensational catch off his own bowling.
In the next over, Chahal had Abdul Samad caught behind the wicket by the first ball, and SRH were all out for 107 in 15.1 overs. Following him was Wriddhiman Saha, who fell victim to Patel’s deliberate slowness in delivering his blow. Holder (16) and Rashid (7 not out) both tried to accelerate before Holder was bowled last.
