Picture : Twitter / IPL
Batting second in Chennai is proving tough for sides in this year’s tournament. After KKR collapsed dramatically against Mumbai Indians, Sunrisers Hyderabad repeated the same going down after placed comfortably to RCB by 6 runs at MA Chidambaram Stadium.
Earlier SRH skipper David Warner had won the toss and asked RCB to bat first . And SRH bowlers bowled to a plan to keep the RCB line-up in check by taking regular wickets . Devdutt Padikkal ( 11), Skipper Virat Kohli ( 33), Shahbaz Ahmed ( 14), A B De Villiers ( 1). RCB could post a most 149/ 8 in their 20 overs. They would not have got this far but thanks to Glenn Maxwell. Given a role in the side and after horror show last year , Maxwell this year has been in cracking form in both the matches. He was the last batsman out off the last of their innings but not before scoring a fine 41 ball 59 . A typical Maxwell innings of brute power and big hits with five fours and three sixes.
SRH bowlers did a fine job in restricting the RCB. Jason Holder 3/30 ( 4 overs), Bhuvneshwar Kumar 1/30 (4 overs), Shahbaz Nadeem 1/36 ( 4 overs), Thangarasu Natarajan 1/32 ( 4 overs), Rashid Khan brilliant 2/18 (4 overs) including the the prized wicket of A B de Villiers
Chasing a tricky small target SRH lost Wriddhiman Saha for (1) . But Skipper David Warner and Manish Pandey put the team back on track . Pandey 38 off 39 with two fours and two sixes. Warner stroked a fine 54 off 37 balls with seven fours and 1 six. But soon after Warner’s dismissal the batting collapsed like a pack of cards – Jonny Bairstow ( 12), Abdul Samad ( 0), Vijay Shankar ( 3), Jason Holder (4), Rashid Khan( 17) tried but it was not enough the team fell agonisingly short by 6 runs finishing at 143/ 9 in their 20 overs. RCB skipper Virat Kohli was spot on with his bowling changes and apt field placings .
RCB bowlers gave it all. Mohammed Siraj 2/25 ( 4 overs), Kyle Jamieson 1/30 ( 3 overs), Washington Sundar0/14 ( 2 overs), Yuzvendra Chahal 0/ 29 ( 4 overs), Harshal Patel 2/25 ( 4 overs). But the real star in RCB bowling was Shahbaz Ahmed who turned around the match with his superb spell 3/7 ( 2 overs) – the wickets of Jonny Bairstow, Manish Pandey and Abdul Samad.
It was RCB’s second win in a row for the SRH it was their second straight loss. They must now seriously find way to get Kane Williamson in the playing eleven. Another few losses could well mar their qualifying hopes.
