Sunrisers Hyderabad defended another low total in IPL 2018 as they defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by five runs on Monday to all but end the playoff hopes of Virat Kohli‘s men.
Batting first, Sunrisers struggled on a sluggish Hyderabad wicket against RCB bowlers and were bowled out for 146. Captain Kane Williamson top-scored with a hard-fought 56 from 39 balls. Fast bowlers Mohammed Siraj (3-25) and Tim Southee (3-30) did the bulk of the damage as they mixed their pace to take maximum advantage of the wicket.
In reply, the Royal Challengers were in deep trouble midway through the innings, losing half their side for 84 in the 12th over with Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers back in the dugout.
With 12 needed from the final over, death over specialist Bhuvneshwar Kumar gave just six runs away as Bangalore were restricted to 141/6.
Here are the talking points from a pulsating encounter.
MOEEN MAKES HIS DEBUT
England all-rounder Moeen Ali finally got an opportunity to play for Royal Challengers. Virat Kohli chose the toughest game to give him his debut – against table-toppers Sunrisers in a must-win match.
What’s more, the skipper asked Moeen to open the bowling. The off-spinner took the challenge head on in Hyderabad. He bowled three overs for 19 runs, which were excellent figures on his IPL debut.
RCB PACERS ON THE MONEY
WICKET! Siraj gets the dangerous Yusuf Pathan and his 2nd tonight! SRH are 6 down now.
— Royal Challengers (@RCBTweets) May 7, 2018
This way boys 🙌🔥💪#PlayBold #SRHvRCB #RCB pic.twitter.com/BHtI8kU7fi
On a wicket where the ball was stopping, it was Bangalore’s pace attack that did the heavy lifting. Southee accounted for opener Alex Hales while Indian quick Siraj was even more impressive as he dismissed Shikhar Dhawan and the dangerous Yusuf Pathan.
While spinners accounted for just one wicket, fast bowlers, including Umesh Yadav, took seven as Sunrisers were bowled out for 146.
MORE POOR FIELDING
This edition of the IPL has seen some sloppy fielding and this match was no different.
Afghan leg-spinner Rashid Khan was victim on both occasions. First, Manan Vohra attempted to hoist Rashid over square leg but his top edge sailed to Siddarth Kaul who lined up under the ball and dropped a straightforward chance.
Then in the spinner’s next over, Rashid got a regulation nick off Kohli’s outside edge but captain Williamson barely got a hand on the ball and even conceded a boundary.
SUNRISERS BOWLERS UP TO THE TASK
If You Can Deceive And Dismiss A Batsman Like AB de Villiers Like That, You Deserve To Be The World No. 1 Bowler. What A Beauty By Rashid Khan. #OrangeArmy #SRHvRCB #SRHvsRCB pic.twitter.com/0WE27Jy6lh
— Sir Ravindra Jadeja (@SirJadeja) May 7, 2018
Hyderabad have made a habit of defending low totals in IPL 2018. Before Monday’s match, Sunrisers had defended totals of 151 and below three times in a row – 151 against Rajasthan, 132 against Punjab and 118 against Mumbai. Against Royal Challengers, they were protecting 147 and even when the visitors were well-placed at 74/2 in the 10th over, they didn’t lose focus.
Shakib Al Hasan got Kohli to top edge a slog towards short third man before AB de Villiers misread Rashid to lose his woodwork.
Seamers Sandeep Sharma (1-20) and Kaul (1-25) were exceptional as always along with the spinners to squeeze the life out of a diffident Bangalore outfit.
Bhuvneshwar was entrusted with bowling the final over with 12 needed. Colin de Grandhomme and Mandeep Singh could only watch as Bhuvi executed one perfect yorker after the other to secure victory.
KOHLI’S RECORD
Kohli and Suresh Raina have been trading placed at the top of the all-time IPL run scorer list this year. This time, it was the turn of Kohli to go past Raina as the most successful batsman in the tournament’s history.
His 39 saw his tally rise to 4,814, which is 13 more than Raina. The India captain averages 38 with four centuries and 33 fifties in IPL.
On Monday, however, the record was far from his mind as a laborious innings failed to result in victory.
