Royal Challengers Bengaluru finally ended their victory drought as they registered a clinical win over marauding Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Thursday. This was their second win in the nine games that they have played so far since the IPL opener against Chennai Super Kings on March 22 last month.  Before the win over SRH, the only other team that RCB had defeated were Punjab Kings.

The win comes at a time when SRH seemed simply unstoppable as they have out batted their opponents. In fact, before the start of the match, there was a lot of discussion on social media as to how SRH may break the world record and post a 300+ target at Uppal. But winning the toss and electing to bat first, RCB somewhat averted that kind of batting show.  

Rajat Patidar’s fiery half-century off 19 balls with Virat Kohli’s bankable performance powered RCB to a modest score of 206/7. Chasing down a target of 207 was not a tough task for SRH, at least this is what it seemed to be. But RCB’s surprise spin attack stole the thunder as SRH kept losing wickets at regular intervals. Batting sensation Travis Head was dismissed for 1 run.

At the end of powerplay, SRH had lost 4 wickets. Middle order, which could have changed the game for the home side, couldn’t do much. Cameron Green, Karn Sharma, Yash Dayal – all bowlers of RCB made sure that there were no long partnerships. When Pat Cummins was dismissed for 31 runs, it was more of a formality. In the end, RCB thrashed SRH by 35 runs. 

Sunrisers Hyderabad vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru scorecard

Sunrisers Hyderabad

  • Abhishek Sharma c Karthik b Yash Dayal 31
  • Travis Head c Karn Sharma b Will Jacks 1
  • Aiden Markram lbw b Swapnil Singh 7
  • Nitish Reddy b Karn Sharma 13
  • Heinrich Klaasen (wk)c Green b Swapnil Singh 7
  • Shahbaz Ahmed not out40
  • Abdul Samad c and b Karn Sharma 10
  • Pat Cummins c Siraj b Green 31
  • Bhuvneshwar Kumar c Siraj b Green 13
  • Jaydev Unadkat not out 8
  • Extras (lb 1, w 8, nb 1) 10
  • Total (8 wickets, 20 overs) 171
  • Fall of wickets: 3-1, 37-2, 41-3, 56-4, 69-5, 85-6, 124-7, 141-8 Bowlers: Will Jacks 2-0-23-1, Mohammed Siraj 4-0-20-0, Yash Dayal 3-0-18-1, Swapnil Singh 3-0-4-0, Karn Sharma 4-0-29-2, Lockie Ferguson 2-0-28-0, Cameron Green 2-0-12-2.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru:

  • Virat Kohli c Samad b Unadkat 51
  • Faf du Plessis c Markram b Natarajan 25
  • Will Jacks b Markande 6
  • Rajat Patidar c Samad b Unadkat 50
  • Cameron Green (not out) 37
  • Mahipal Lomror c Cummins b Unadkat 7
  • Dinesh Karthik c Samad b Cummins 11
  • Swapnil Singh c Abhishek b Natarajan 12
  • Extras (LB-2, W-5) 7
  • Total (7 wickets, 20 overs) 206
  • Fall of wickets: 1-48, 2-65, 3-130, 4-140, 5-161, 6-193, 7-206.
  • Bowling: Abhishek Sharma 1-0-10-0, Bhuvenshwar Kumar 1-0-14-0, Pat Cummins 4-0-55-1, T Natarajan 4-0-39-2, Shahbaz Ahmed 3-0-14-0, Mayank Markande 3-0-42-1, Jaydev Unadkat 4-0-30-3.

(With PTI inputs)