Sunrisers Hyderabad played host to Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad in the 39th match of IPL 2018. SRH, who have made a habit of defending low totals, continued their merry way and just like their previous game, toppled RCB by defending 146.
Another low scoring game
SRH were put into bat after Virat Kohli won the toss. Alex Hales and Shikhar Dhawan opened the batting but the former departed pretty early in the innings. The RCB bowlers applied the pressure that resulted in the wicket of Dhawan as well inside the powerplay as the hosts were restricted to 38/2.
The captain Kane Williamson stood his ground firmly while Manish Pandey fell for 5 in the 9th over. Shakib Al Hasan provided a great company to his skipper and the duo resurrected the innings. They mixed caution with the wind and took the score to 94/3 after 14 overs.
Williamson began to open his shoulders and brought up his half-century. But as he threatened to take the game away from the opposition, he was dismissed by Umesh Yadav for 56 in the 16th over. It triggered a massive collapse and SRH lost 6 wickets in the last 4 overs to be bowled out for 146.
The love affair of SRH and defending
RCB had a good start to the chase when Parthiv Patel came out positive. After striking 4 boundaries, he got the team to a flier but Shakib ended his stay in the 3rd over. Virat Kohli came out all guns blazing and attacked Shakib to collect 2 fours and a six in the next over of the spinner. After 6 overs, the visitors raced off to 55/1.
The opener Manan Vohra was struggling in the middle and his knock was ended for 8 by Sandeep Sharma. Kohli then had AB de Villiers for a company and all eyes were on the dream pair. But contrary to the expectations, both of them departed in a quick succession and RCB were left reeling at 80/4 after 11 overs.
The same old story repeated itself for the visitors as they struggled to chase a mediocre total. The debutant Moeen Ali failed to impress with the bat and got out for 10 in the 12th over. Mandeep Singh and Colin de Grandhomme kept fighting against the tide and brought it down to 19 from 12 balls.
But Siddharth Kaul conceded just 7 from the penultimate over and Bhuvneshwar added a cherry on the top by giving away just 6 runs which meant SRH won the match by 5 runs and almost confirmed their berth in the playoffs.
Moment of the Game
The moment of the game occurred in the 10th over of the RCB innings. The visitors were going well in the chase having the presence of the skipper Virat Kohli at the crease. He had his partner-in-crime AB de Villiers at the crease and the SRH bowlers knew they had their work cut out as long as the duo was in the middle.
If you want to dismiss someone of Kohli’s class, you need to pull off something extraordinary each time. A moment of brilliance was produced by the most unlikely man on the field – Yusuf Pathan. Normally, you would associate Yusuf with tonking the ball out of the park or even bowling those handy off-spinners at times.
But surprisingly, he produced a magical moment while fielding. Kohli was facing up to Shakib Al Hasan and the spinner bowled a quicker one. The batsman was slightly late onto the pull shot that induced a top edge. The ball flew towards short third man where Yusuf was stationed.
The veteran raised his right hand high and literally plucked it out of thin air. A brilliant catch meant that the RCB skipper’s stay was ended for 39. Every fielder, including Yusuf, was pleasantly surprised by the effort. It was the brilliance that turned the game around in favor of SRH.
Match Summary
Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and opted to bowl first
Sunrisers Hyderabad:Â 146/10 in 20 overs
Kane Williamson 56 (39), Shakib Al Hasan 35 (32)
Mohammed Siraj 25/3 (4), Tim Southee 30/3 (4)
Royal Challengers Bangalore:Â 141/6 in 20 overs
Virat Kohli 39 (30), Colin de Grandhomme 33 (29)
Shakib Al Hasan 36/2 (4), Sandeep Sharma 20/1 (4)
Sunrisers Hyderabad won by 5 runs
Player of the Match: Kane Williamson
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