Picture Credit : BCCI
Royal Challengers Bangalore showed the intent and the desire on the field as they beat Sunrisers Hyderabad in high scoring encounter at Bengaluru. It was attack from the word go by Virat Kohli to his men and they all responded to the skipper’s call.
Yet another manstyer class fifty by A B De Villiers 69 off 39 and an equally impressive fifty by Moeen Ali ( 65 of 35 balls) helped RCB post a stiff target for SRH 218 for 6 in their 20 overs. Later on there were terrific cameos from Colin de Grandhomme 40 runs off just 17 balls and Sarfaraz Khan scored 22 off 8 balls to power the RCB total. Much to the despair of SRH bowlers.
Afghanistan’s leg-spinner Rashid Khan once again as the star for Sunrisers with figures of 3/27 from his four overs. On the other hand Basil Thampi Thampi conceded the most runs by a bowler in an innings in the history of IPL. He leaked 70 runs from his fours overs.
Chasing a huge target, SRH got off to a flyer. Alex Hales (37 off 24) was going great guns before De Villiers pulled off a sensational blinder of a one-handed catch at midwicket boundary off Ali . Kane Williamson showed his class with a masterly 81, Manish Pandey scored big finally with 62 but it was not enough at the end. They finished at 204 for 3 in their 20 overs.
Though the Sunrisers have already qualified for the play- offs this match again brought to the fore some weaknesses in the line- up. Some thing that Kane Williamson ill have to address before they set their sights for the title.
Meanwhile, RCB climb up to the fifth spot with 12 points from 13 games and need to win their last league game against Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur on Saturday to harbour any play-off hopes.
