Twitter Reactions: RCB pull off a stunning jailbreak courtesy Shahbaz Ahmed and Harshal Patel against SRH

Harshal Patel gave an attack on third ball of the last over, which went for a boundary and was adjudged no-ball for height. Although, he came roaring back with a slower short ball on a free-hit.

By Pratyay Tiwari

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4 Min Read

Shahbaz Ahmed
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Shahbaz Ahmed. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)

The Royal Challengers had come into this game with some momentum they gained by defeating the Mumbai Indians in a closely-fought encounter that went down to the last ball. While the genius of AB de Villiers came to their rescue on a dry Chennai surface that day, they found the going seemingly difficult on a drier and patchier surface against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Both the sides made changes with Devdutt Padikkal replacing Rajat Patidar from RCB’s XI against MI, while Jason Holder and Shahbaz Nadeem came in at the expense of Mohammad Nabi and Sandeep Sharma. Padikkal seemed fluent in his transient outing as he middled a couple of glorious boundaries before finding Nadeem at midwicket off Bhuvneshwar Kumar. The early breakthrough jittered the momentum, although Virat Kohli cut loose against Natarajan, hitting him for two fours in the last over of the powerplay.

Maxwell anchors along after a jittery start

The Ahmed-Kohli stand had just started to grow in confidence when SRH employed the former’s namesake against him. Enticing him out of his crease, Nadeem got him caught at deep square leg to rough up RCB’s momentum once again. A healthy partnership for the third wicket followed between Glenn Maxwell and skipper Kohli, although the tight bowling from the opposition denied them a move on.

Maxwell accelerated in the 11th over as he sandwiched a boundary between two brutal maximums over midwicket off Nadeem before Kohli smothered him down in the V for another boundary to pick 22 in the over. What appeared to be a perfect platform for acceleration after a sluggish phase was hindered when Kohli miscued a pull against Jason Holder that was well-caught by Vijay Shankar. SRH’s trump card, Rashid Khan, undid AB de Villiers, getting him caught at extra cover, for an uncharacteristic 5-ball 1 in the immediately following over to break RCB’s back.

The boundaries dried up as Maxwell entered into a shell. Rashid returned to account for Washington Sundar, who perished courtesy of another sensational catch at long-off by Manish Pandey. Any chances of a strong finish for RCB ended when Dan Christian edged T Natarajan behind even as Kyle Jamieson whacked a couple of boundaries before he holed out to long-on to give Holder his second for the night. Having eschewed his aggressive instincts witnessing a collapse, Maxwell smacked a six in the final over before nicking Holder behind as RCB finished 149/8.

Warner, Manish Pandey in cruise control

A searing spell of new-ball bowling from Mohammad Siraj during SRH’s response was rewarded when Wriddhiman Saha cut him straight to point, where Maxwell made no mistake, and Saha recorded his second failure at the top. Breaking the shackles from the other end despite the breakthrough was David Warner, who belted Kyle Jamieson for a four and six in the 17-run fourth over.

After an incredibly impressive two-over spell, Siraj was given an additional over, although Warner spoilt him, picking up consecutive fours to end the powerplay 50/1. Alongside the skipper, Manish Pandey made things merry as he smoked Sundar over long-on for a giant six before Warner reverse-swept and swept Chahal in the 11th over, when SRH seemed in complete control of things. Although things changed for RCB’s good by Jamieson’s off-cutter, which Warned deposited straight into Daniel Christian’s hands to end the 69-ball 83-run stand for the second wicket.

Twists, twists, and some more…

Memories of the KKR-esque fallback came quick and fast in the triple-wicket 17th over from Ahmed immediately after the timeout: Baristow found de Villiers’ gloves as he miscued a slog-sweep, while Pandey holed out to extra cover on the following ball before Abdul Samad gave a return catch to the bowler. The hero of RCB’s previous game, Harshal Patel added more to the drama as he sent back Vijay Shankar and Siraj got Holder caught at long-off in the penultimate over.

With as much drama unfolding, the last over could not have been uneventful. Harshal Patel gave an attack to his camp on the third ball, which went for a boundary and was adjudged no-ball for height. He came roaring back with a slower short ball on a free-hit that went for no runs. Rashid Khan was then dismissed run-out, followed by Shahbaz Nadeem’s dismissal as once cruising SRH conceded the game by 6 runs.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

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