Ishan Kishan, bowlers fashion Sunrisers Hyderabad 42-run win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru
Royal Challengers Bengaluru squandered a golden chance to finish inside the top two of the IPL points table, going down to Ishan Kishan-fuelled Sunrisers Hyderabad by 42 runs.
LUCKNOW — Royal
Challengers Bengaluru squandered a golden chance to finish inside the top two
of the IPL points table, going down to Ishan Kishan-fuelled Sunrisers Hyderabad
by 42 runs here on Friday.
As a result of this heavy defeat, Royal Challengers (17
points) have slid down to third on the table behind Gujarat Titans (18) and
Punjab Kings (17). The Net Run Rate (NRR) also took a significant beating.
Once they were asked to chase an imposing 232, which the SRH
set after Kishan made a stunning unbeaten 94 off 48 balls, RCB required some
calculated assault on the target.
They mounted it through Phil Salt (62, 32b, 4xx, 5x6), Virat
Kohli (43, 25b, 7x4, 1x6) and Jitesh Sharma (24, 15b), but could only amass 189
before getting bundled out, and it was RCB's first defeat away from home this
season.
But the beginning of RCB's chase offered a different tale,
as Kohli and Salt sprinted to 80 runs in just 7 overs.
Kohli, who had recently retired from Test cricket, was the
chief aggressor, clattering pacers Harshal Patel for two fours and Eshan
Malinga for a swatted six over mid-wicket.
But the veteran fell to an old nemesis — left-arm spin —for
the 22nd time in his storied T20 career, this time to 22-year-old Harsh Dubey,
the highest wicket-taker in 2024-25 Ranji Trophy season for champions Vidarbha.
However, Salt, who made 14 off his first 12 balls, found his
depth at the right time, smashing 48 runs in the next 20 balls, and a
tennis-style forehand six off Nitish Kumar Reddy was just stunning in its
execution.
Salt raced to fifty in 27 balls but cramps curtailed his
movements, and soon perished to Pat Cummins.
But on a rather smooth pitch, the RCB batters kept on
finding regular boundaries to keep the asking rate from escalating.
Skipper Rajat Patidar (18) and Jitesh Sharma (24) added 44
quick runs for the fourth wicket to take RCB to 173 for three in the 16th over.
But a horrible mid-pitch between them saw Patidar getting
run out by a couple of miles, and in the same over Malinga jettisoned
big-hitting Romario Shepherd for a first-ball duck.
Jitesh perished to Unadkat and Tim David, who appears to
have suffered a hamstring injury, in the space of nine deliveries as the fight
soon ebbed out of the Royal Challengers.
In fact, the Bengaluru side lost the last seven wickets for
60 runs as Cummins (3/28) and Malinga (2/37) led SRH's bowling charge.
Earlier, the Hyderabad side went ballistic from the
beginning through usual suspects — Abhishek Sharma (34, 17b) and Travis Head
(17, 10b) before Kishan found his range during his 48-ball knock studded with
seven fours and five sixes.
The famed 'Travi-shek' added 54 runs in just four overs, as
the left-handers blitzed RCB new ball bowlers Yash Dayal and Bhuvneshwar Kumar.
Bhuvneshwar conceded 18 runs in the second over as Head
hammered him for a boundary, followed by a six and another four by Abhishek.
But soon, Abhishek flicked Lungi Ngidi straight into the
waiting hands of Salt at square leg as the innings that played at a strike-rate
of 200 came to an end.
Head too did not last long as the Aussie lobbed a knuckle
ball from Bhuvneshwar to Shepherd near the circle.
It soon transpired into a trend as SRH batters, except
Kishan, engaged in mindless aggression to squander their starts. But Kishan was
a constant amidst all these fumbling, playing with a sensible head.
The left-handed power-hitter has been off-colour after a
century in the initial part of the IPL, but showed glimpses of his destructive
powers in this innings.
He never overdid things like some of his colleagues, and the
measured six off Bhuvneshwar in the last ball of the 18th over was a treat to
watch as he galloped to his first fifty in 10 innings in 28 balls.
