Bottom-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad hampered Royal Challengers Bangalore’s chances of finishing in the top two with a close four-run triumph in a last-over IPL thriller in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. After scoring a modest 141 for 7, SRH came back to restrict RCB to 137 for six, giving them only their third win in the league. Devdutt Padikkal (41) and Glenn Maxwell (40) scored the majority of the runs in the chase, but RCB continued to lose wickets and fell short in the end. Jason Holder bowled a brilliant over, giving down only five runs for one wicket while defending 18 off the last two overs.
AB de Villiers hit a six in the fourth ball of Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s final over, but he couldn’t get the team home because the South African couldn’t get the crucial six in the last ball.
Earlier, opener Jason Roy (44) and skipper Kane Williamson (31) put on a 58-ball 70-run stand to set the tone, but SRH lost three quick wickets for two runs in seven balls, resulting in a below-par total.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar trapped Virat Kohli in the opening over, handing RCB an early blow in their pursuit.
The idea to promote Daniel Christian to number 3 didn’t work out either, since he was duped by Siddarth Kaul’s slower delivery.
Srikar Bharat and Devdutt Padikkal joined hands at 18 for 2 and hit two beautiful strokes for a six and a four to take RCB to 37 for 2 in six overs.
Umran Malik, the new pace sensation, then struck with his sixth delivery, eliminating Bharat and reducing RCB to 38 for 2.
Maxwell’s new-man resolve was evident when he clobbered Rashid Khan for a maximum. He gave the Afghan spinner another treatment, throwing him over long-on and then sweeping him for another four.
However, with Malik consistently clocking 150km or more, RCB decided to focus on the other bowlers.
Padikkal’s erroneous decision resulted in Maxwell being run out, while the former was also caught at the boundary line, as RCB fell to 109 for 4 in 16.5 overs.
Shahbaz Ahmed hit two fours to reduce the equation to 29 off 18 balls before being removed by Holder in the 19th over. After skipper Virat Kohli chose to bowl, Harshal Patel (3/33) and Daniel Christian (2/14) inflicted the most damage for RCB.
Yuzvendra Chahal (1/27) and Shahbaz Ahmed (0/21) kept things under control, but George Garton’s one wicket cost him 29 runs in two overs.
In the second over, Abhishek Sharma, who was assigned to open the batting, hit a four and a six off Garton before holing out to Maxwell.
Williamson got things underway with a nice cover drive before pulling one from Siraj for another boundary through square leg.
The New Zealand captain was all elegance as he played two sweetly-timed strokes off Garton for two more knocks to the fence. Left-arm spinner Shahbaz targeted the stumps, but Roy was quick to pull him through square leg when he faltered.
SRH were 50 for 1 at the end of Powerplay. Shahbaz and Chahal bowled in tandem, preventing batsmen from freeing their arms.
As SRH sank to 84 for 2 in the 12th over, Williamson’s stumps were knocked out by Patel with a cutter as he sought to create space for himself.
Priyam Garg hit a six off Chahal before being caught by AB de Villiers in the next over off Christian. Christian took a spectacular catch off his own bowling to dismiss the well-set Roy five balls later.
SRH were reduced to 107 for 5 in 15.1 overs as Chahal trapped Abdul Samad in front of wicket with the first delivery of the next over. Patel then put Wriddhiman Saha out with a slower delivery. Before Holder (16) dropped in the penultimate ball, Rashid (7 not out) and Holder (7 not out) sought to accelerate.
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