Twitter Reactions: RCB gasp for breath, courtesy SRH's timely breakthroughs and disciplined bowling

Well, Well, Well!! Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) were going to spoil a season of one or two teams and they might have just done that with the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). The Virat Kohli-led side was eyeing its 100th win in the IPL history and also a shot at the top two position in the points table. But SRH’s bowlers kept their nerve right through to defend a modest total of 141 runs to win the game eventually by four runs.

Earlier, SRH batters promised to post a big score on the board but lost steam by the end of the innings. Jason Roy clicked for the first time after smashing a fifty in his first game of the season. His new opening partner Abhishek Sharma didn’t long last but the SRH skipper Kane Williamson supported him well. Roy and Williamson added 70 runs for the second wicket and looked in good touch in the middle.

While one batsman was taking on the bowlers, the other was making sure the scoreboard kept ticking. But Williamson was castled by the purple cap holder for 33. However, Roy continued finding gaps and looked like stitching his second half-century of the season. But it wasn’t to be. Daniel Christian struck twice in his second over of the game to send back Roy on 44 and Priyam Garg (15).

It was the 15th over when SRH lost those two wickets and lost all the momentum going into the death overs. RCB have got their death bowling sorted this season and once again, Harshal Patel made sure he picked wickets in his last couple of overs to stem the flow of runs. There was an odd boundary but SRH could score only 34 runs in their last five overs and lost three wickets.

SRH finished on 141 runs for the loss of seven wickets in their 20 overs. For RCB, Christian returned with 2/14 while Harshal Patel took his wickets tally to 29 with yet another three-wicket haul in this game.

RCB fall four runs short in the chase

With no dew, the pitch was going to play its tricks in the second innings and RCB didn’t get off to an expected start with their skipper Virat Kohli getting out in the first over. He smacked the first ball of the innings for four but Bhuvneshwar Kumar won the battle pinning his India captain in front of the stumps.

The ploy to send Christian at number three didn’t work yet again while KS Bharat also got out soon to hand over Umran Malik his maiden IPL wicket. All this while, Devdutt Padikkal was prodding along struggling to time the ball. It was that kind of a day for the left-hander where he didn’t look fluent and at 38/3 in the 7th over, RCB were in a spot of bother.

This is when Glenn Maxwell came out and like he has been doing, changed the pace of the game. He took on Rashid Khan to open his account smashing him for a six and a four in the same over. He dominated the 54-run stand with Padikkal who played a little too many dot balls only to be covered by Maxwell’s dominance. However, the duo was involved in a mix-up as they misjudged a single and Maxwell was the casualty.

Nevertheless, the Aussie all-rounder scored an entertaining 40 off 25 balls with three fours and a couple of sixes. For SRH, Umran Malik was the star in the middle-overs keeping batters on their toes right through and also clocking 153 kph, the fastest ball of this season. Padikkal stuck it out in the middle somehow but was eventually caught in the deep in the 17th over after mustering 41 runs off 52 deliveries.

It all came down to AB de Villiers in the end with RCB needing 29 runs in the last three overs. Shahbaz Ahmed’s couple of fours brought it down to 18 off the last two overs. However, Jason Holder bowled a terrific 19th over to make it 13 off the last over while also dismissing Shahbaz. It was a one-on-one eventually between De Villiers and Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the last over with 12 needing off four balls.

De Villiers denied a single first and then punished a length ball straight down the ground for a six. The penultimate delivery was a wide full toss but the South African superman couldn’t breach the 30-yeard circle and again, it was a dot ball. RCB needed a maximum off the last ball but Bhuvi prevailed in a thriller in the end as he kept it away from AB’s six-hitting arc to concede only a single.

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