Sunrisers Hyderabad shock Royal Challengers Bangalore in a thriller

Sunrisers Hyderabad got their fans something to cheer about after winning a thriller against Royal Challengers Bangalore by four runs. Putting a target of 142, Williamson’s men restricted the Men in Red to 137 runs.

Roy gives Hyderabad some hope

Considering their poor batting display in the entire tournament, Sunrisers Hyderabad started their batting with a pragmatic approach. Their objective was not to lose many wickets in the first ten overs so they can have the license to attack the final overs.

Despite losing Abhishek Sharma in the second over, the 2016 champions moved along with their innings. Jason Roy and Kane Williamson established a meaningful partnership for their team to ensure that there is no more meltdown in the initial part of the innings like we have seen throughout this tournament.

At the halfway mark, nine boundaries were hit, and eight of them came from the bat of these two batsmen. But as they were settled, they had to accelerate their innings. However, the Hyderabad skipper lost his wicket to Harshal Patel to destabilize it.

Priyam Garg smashed Yuzvendra Chahal out of the ground to ensure that Williamson’s men cross triple figures. However, he was removed in the 15th over by Daniel Christian. It looked like the bad habits were coming back to bite the bottom-of-the-table side when the Australian fast bowler also removed their talisman, Roy, in the same over. The English batsman scored 44 runs off 38 balls.

Bangalore knew that a win in this match would give them a chance to finish in the top two. Therefore, they had to consolidate the momentum. Kohli’s men appeared to be on top as Chahal got rid of Abdul Samad in the 16th over.

Jason Holder came on to bring a shift in momentum. He hit a boundary against Christian, but his partner, Wriddhiman Saha, was removed by Patel. There were no late heroics by the West Indian as the 2016 champions finished off with 141/7.

Maxwell’s exhibition shots go in vain

Virat Kohli opened the Bangalore batting innings with a breathtaking boundary on the first ball. However, that was the only highlight of the skipper’s innings as he got given leg before wicket off Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s bowling a few balls later.

Danial Christian replaced the Indian captain to take the Royal Challenger’s batting forward. However, he couldn’t do anything constructive and was dismissed by Siddarth Kaul. The 2016 runner-ups needed a partnership to stabilize things. Srikar Bharat and Devdutt Padikkal tried to ensure that.

Just when you thought that both the players were getting settled in, Umran Malik got rid of the Royal Challengers wicket-keeper to pile further misery on Kohli’s men. Glenn Maxwell replaced Bharat and did play a few decent shots to get the scoreboard ticking over. At the halfway mark, the match hung in the balance at 67/3.

The plan was for Maxwell to become the aggressor and Padikkal to rotate the strike and play the anchor role. It looked to be working as the Australian smashed Kaul and Holder for boundaries in consecutive overs. The pair crossed the 50-run partnership in the 14th over as they reduced the deficit to 50 runs.

However, there was a twist in the tale as the Hyderabad skipper, Williamson, run out Maxwell in the 15th over. After this dismissal, Padikkal changed his role to become the aggressor as he smashed Rashid Khan for a boundary. In the last five overs, Bangalore required 44 runs.

In his extraordinary career, AB de Villiers has created a reputation for being one of the finest finishers in the game. However, he would have to carry his team all the way by himself as the Bangalore opener lost his wicket to the Afghanistan all-rounder.

After this dismissal, the former South African captain smashed Rashid for a boundary. In the next over, Shahbaz Ahmed took some pressure off as he hit two boundaries to cut the deficit to 18 runs.

The big talking point came in the next over as Bhuvneshwar dropped the Indian batsman’s catch. However, the skipper, Williamson didn’t make any mistake as he held Shahbaz’s catch. In the last over, the Men in Red required 13 runs.

George Garton gave the strike to the South African. With all the eyes on Mister 360, he didn’t disappoint as he hit Bhuvneshwar for a six. However, another dot ball meant that de Villiers had to hit another maximum to get his side over the line. The Indian fast bowler held his nerve and secured a consolation win for the 2016 champions.