It was a day to rejoice for SRH fans yesterday. SRH finally lived up to their forte of being the masters of defending low totals. The match cleared the confusion about what was wrong with SRH this whole season, and Williamson and his men would blindly take this win home with the nature in which the game played off.
A calm effort by Roy, but the same batting collapse from Hyderabad
The game began after Bangalore men winning the toss chose to field, and that decision was spot on. SRH’s new opener, Jason Roy, missed his second 50 in only his third game, but the man notched a composed 44 runs score at a strike rate of 115.09. His captain supported him for some time, but he too departed early due to another slower delivery from the season’s leading wicket-taker.
It was a better effort from SRH batters considering their frequent collapses this season, but they would have still likened an additional 15-20 runs to their score. Harshal Patel again led RCB’s bowling pack, who grabbed three wickets in this game while becoming the highest wicket-taking Indian in any season of IPL. A brilliant effort by the Bangalore bowlers saw the SRH score restricted to 141.
SRH bowlers to the rescue
The second innings saw RCB skipper getting out cheaply in the first over itself, credit to Hyderabad’s bowling legend-Bhuvneshwar Kumar who was in his 100th match for the franchise. The poor outing from RCB batters just helped the SRH cause. Devdutt Padikkal struggled to score a ball per run in the game, and that pressure saw him get out at 41 runs at the expense of 52 balls.
Glenn Maxwell was dangerous as usual, and everyone thought that he might score his fourth consecutive fifty and win the game for RCB again. But a bad call from Padikkal, and it was all over for RCB. Not even their wizard AB de Villers was able to create some magic in the last over. Sending AB so late proved to be a lethal decision at the end, which they should make sure not to repeat if they want to win this season.
Conclusion
A bowling masterclass by every bowler of SRH made them finally see the type of wins they are known for ‘defending the low scores’. If only their batters would have provided more runs to defend this season!
Even though both teams had nothing at stake qualification-wise, SRH has hurt RCB by ruining their top 2 position chances. The runout of the Mr Consistent of RCB this season (Glenn Maxwell) turned the tables in SRH’s favour. Kane Williamson deservedly was crowned ‘Player of the Match’ for the direct throw, seeing Maxi returning to his pavilion and two brilliant catches in the field.