The contest between second-placed Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and seventh-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Super Saturday of Indian Premier League (IPL) was slated to be a fascinating encounter.
As opposed to the expectations, the game proved to be a one-sided affair, with SRH running over RCB by a margin of five wickets and a massive 5.5 overs to spare.
Earlier, it was SRH captain David Warner and opted to bat first, looking at the surface offered at Sharjah. RCB could not get going right from the beginning, losing the prized wickets of Devdutt Padikkal (5) and Virat Kohli (7) in the powerplay.
Josh Philippe (32) tried his level best to hold the innings together but kept losing partners at the other end. On a slowish surface, SRH bowlers flexed their muscles with their bowling firepower.
Sandeep Sharma (2/20) and Jason Holder’s (2/27) spell tested RCB’s power-hitting skills. They shared four wickets amongst themselves. T Natarajan (1/11), Shahbaaz Nadeem (1/35) and Rashid Khan (1/24) enjoyed the spoils and went back with a wicket to show for, each.
RCB could only manage a paltry total of 120 and lost seven wickets in their 20 overs.
Chasing a moderate total of 121, SRH went off to the worst possible start, with the early wicket of captain Warner (8). Wriddhiman Saha (39 off 32) and Manish Pandey (26 off 19) steadied the ship for SRH with the 50 run partnership.
The game appeared to change its course with the introduction of Yuzvendra Chahal (2/19), who dismissed the two set batsman.
Things looked difficult for SRH with the wicket of Kane Williamson (8), with the score reading at 87 and four batsmen back in the dugout. Wickets from Isuru Udana (1/20) and Navdeep Saini (1/30) brought RCB back into the hunt.
However, the defining knock of the innings came from Holder, who came in and completed the formalities with his priceless.
The West Indies’ allrounder smashed a quickfire 26 off 10 deliveries, with one four and three gigantic maximums.
With the impressive win, SRH leapfrogged to the fourth place in the points table and also bettered their net run-rate. Sandeep Sharma was adjudged as the ‘Player of the match’ for his decisive spell.
Brief Scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad – 121/5 in 14.1 overs (Saha 39, Chahal 2/19) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore – 120/7 in 20 overs (Philippe 32, Sharma 2/20) by five wickets
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