Brief Scores from RCB vs SRH, IPL 2021: Royal Challengers Bangalore 149/8 in 20 overs (Glenn Maxwell 59; Jason Holder 3/30, Rashid Khan 2/18)
Sunrisers Hyderabad 143/9 in 20 overs (David Warner 54, Manish Pandey 38; Shahbaz Ahmed 3/7, Mohammed Siraj 2/25)
Royal Challengers Bangalore sit atop the points table as they seal a 6-run triumph over Sunrisers Hyderabad in what was one of the finest comebacks from Virat Kohli’s men in the Indian Premier League.
Losing the toss and batting first, RCB suffered at the hands of Sunrisers’ bowling attack that brought them miseries at regular intervals to ensure the players weren’t settled at any stage of the contest. Virat, who opened the innings alongside Devdutt Padikkal, was the second-highest scorer in RCB’s lineup, with a 29-ball 33 studded with merely 4 fours.
Sunrisers’ bowling trio of Rashid Khan, Jason Holder and T Natarajan tormented RCB’s lineup to the extent they could amass only 149 runs in their quota of 20 overs, with all-rounder Glenn Maxwell rising to the occasion in compiling a 41-ball 59 by smashing 5 fours and 3 sixes.
Inspite of David Warner’s 49th fifty in the tournament and Manish Pandey contributing 38 runs to their chase, SRH fell short by 6 runs as they bowed down to RCB’s bowling attack that bounced back during the clutch moments to hand their franchise a nerve-wracking triumph over their Southern rivals.
Here are the talking points from RCB vs SRH match at Chepauk –
The Big Show delivers!
It was a long wait of fifty for the Australian hard-hitter in the power-packed tournament. In fact, it took him five seasons and 40 matches to register a fifty-plus tally in IPL.
Nonetheless, it came at just the right moment as the Men in Red were losing wickets at frequent intervals and they needed someone to forge partnerships and pace the innings without compromising the scoring rate.
Maxwell initially weaved a 38-run stand alongside Kohli for the third wicket. With the trio of AB de Villiers, Washington Sundar and Daniel Christian failing to reap crucial runs, the onus of ensuring the same now fell on the Kiwi all-rounder, Kyle Jamieson, alongside a well-set Maxwell.
Maxwell whacked two fours off pacer T Natarajan in the penultimate over, then a couple runs off Jason Holder in the final over to register his 7th fifty in IPL.
Maxwell added a quick 27 runs along with Jamieson for the seventh wicket, and then 13 runs with Harshal Patel to power their tally to 149 runs.
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Holder, Rashid’s economical exhibitions wreak havoc on RCB
Major credits to David Warner’s bowling rotations, especially, the pace-spin duo of Jason Holder and Rashid Khan, whose economical bowling denied RCB from posing galloping numbers on board.
Jason Holder’s initial spell got the wicket of opener Devdutt Padikkal, who had racked over 400 runs in his maiden IPL edition in 2020. With Virat Kohli chipping in runs in the middle-overs, Warner then reintroduced Holder in the 13th over. The decision reaped rewards as the Caribbean pacer bowled a shorter delivery on the middle stump to force Virat for a pull that landed straight into the hands of Vijay Shankar.
Holder got the edge over Maxwell too, dismissing him on the final ball of the innings, to set a 150-run target for the hosts and wrapping up his quota of overs with a figure of 3/30.
Meanwhile, Afghani leggie Rashid Khan was at his lethal best as he bagged the wicket of AB de Villiers (1) and sometime later, Washington Sundar (8), to wind up with figures of 4-0-18-2 and an economy rate of 4.51.
Warner strikes his 49th IPL fifty; Shahbaz’s 3/7 turning point for RCB
Defending a 150-run target against a side that has the likes of David Warner, Manish Pandey, Jonny Bairstow and Abdul Samad would’ve been trickier for RCB, and it was, if not for the match-winning shows from Shahbaz Ahmed (3/7), and the duo of Mohammed Siraj and Harshal Patel for bagging 2/25 each.
David Warner delivered just what was expected of him, 54 runs off 37 deliveries, in a knock that struck 7 fours and a six. After losing his fellow opener Wriddhiman Saha (1) in the third over, Warner added 83 runs alongside Manish Pandey for the second wicket.
Even after Warner’s dismissal in the 14th over SRH looked in complete control of the situation. They were inching closer to their maiden win of the season as they required 35 runs off 24 deliveries with Manish Pandey and Jonny Bairstow occupying the ends, however, the tables turned for the Men in Orange in the 17th over.
Bowling his second over in the match, spinner Shahbaz Ahmed bagged the wickets of Jonny Bairstow (12) and Manish Pandey (38) in the initial two deliveries, then rattled SRH’s chances of a conquest by forcing Abdul Samad to a caught and bowled in the last ball of the over.
With 27 runs needed off 12 deliveries, the duo of Mohammed Siraj and Harshal Patel pulled the chains on Sunrisers’ scoring rate in the last two overs, scalping the wicket of Jason Holder in the 19th over and forcing a run-out Rashid Khan in the final over to eventually guide RCB to their second win of the season.
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