RCB collapse spectacularly
RCB have lost their last seven wickets for 16 runs in a collapse that has the potential of derailing their entire campaign. They have lost by 42, which has taken their net run rate below Punjab Kings'. What a time to endure a big defeat. SRH meanwhile have shown they have the core for the next season. We leave you with a teaser from our final report.
Sunrisers Hyderabad proved to be the banana peel they were feared to be for Royal Challengers Bengaluru, who still remained one point behind the table leaders Gujarat Titans with Kings Punjab now breathing down their necks with one game in hand.
Ishan Kishan, who had fizzled out after his century in the first match with just 125 runs off 117 in 10 innings since then, anchored a hyper-aggressive SRH to 231. It was as efficient an anchor can be: scoring an unbeaten 94 off 48, including 54 out of the last 86 runs as he ran out of hitting partners. Led by Phil Salt, RCB stayed abreast with the asking rate for 14 overs, but then endured a collapse of 7 for 16 to lose by 42 runs, a net-run-rate blow that could dent their chances of ending in the top two.
4
5
4
15
Malinga 4-0-37-2: 46 needed off 12
A lovely mix of yorkers and slower balls from Eshan Malinga has turned this game on its head. His last two overs have gone for just 14 and have brought the wickets of Shepherd and David to go with the run-out of Patidar.
RCB are in position to take advantage of the over-rate penalty for the last two overs. SRH will bowl these overs with just four on the boundary but RCB have no batters left to make them pay for it.
2
2
1
11
David gone: 53 needed off 14
Tim David puts in a valiant effort to try to hit but he can't run at all. That results in him getting stuck on the striker's end against Eshan Malinga's yorkers. By the time he holes out to long-on, the asking rate has gone up to nearly four a ball.
1
2
1
11
Jitesh falls too: 58 needed off 23
4lb
1
1
W
1
W
•
W
1
•
•
4
•
•
Extend that period to two more balls and you see one more wicket. Jaydev Unadkat comes back to bowl out, and does present an on-pace slot ball from around the wicket. Jitesh Sharma has to try to hit this for a six, but ends up mis-hitting it to deep midwicket.
Tim David comes in. Don't expect too much sprinting now.
1
1
5
Golden duck for Shepherd: 58 needed off 24
4lb
1
1
W
1
W
•
W
1
•
•
4
What a time to put together two overs without a single boundary off the bat. Eshan Malinga has just displayed excellent death bowling. Five yorkers, and then a slower ball. You can't fault Romario Shepherd for expecting a yorker and making room. He ends up chipping this length-ball slower ball back to Malinga.
Krunal Pandya comes in ahead of Tim David. Perhaps David can bat but not run efficiently. Remember he hurt himself in the last over of the first innings. Seemed like a hamstring trouble.
2
5
Malinga run out Patidar: 59 needed off 26
Eshan Malinga has been spot on with his yorkers in the 16th over. One of them has gone for four leg-byes but Malinga has just moved his line towards off after that. And then he even runs out Rajat Patidar, who tries to run a single even though the ball has not gone anywhere. Malinga fields and hits the wicket down. Romario Shepherd is the new man in.
1
1
2
First over without a boundary: 65 needed off 30
Nitish Kumar Reddy has just bowled a superb over for just four runs. He has mixed yorkers with a couple of balls into the pitch. In effect, he has done what Romario Shepherd did for RCB. Reddy: two overs for 13 runs and one wicket. Shepherd: two overs for 14 runs and two wickets.
Will Reddy get another over? Malinga has two overs left, Cummins, Unadkat and Harshal have one each.
2
1
4
Jitesh dropped on 8: 80 needed off 41
A 10-run 13th over brings the asking rate to 12 an over for the first time. Jaydev Unadkar comes back. Jitesh Sharma whips one towards deep midwicket, Abhishek Sharma runs to his right, puts in a dive and doesn't even get a hand to it. The ball has dipped on him. This hasn't been a good day for SRH in the field.
Tim David, Romario Shephers and Krunal Pandya still in the shed.
1
2
Cummins gets Salt: 103 needed off 52
SRH have gone back to back. And it is the huge wicket of Phil Salt. Pat Cummins brings himself back on the back of Nitish Reddy's wicket-taking over. Salt tries to go cow corner but gets a massive edge for mid-off to catch in the mid-on region.
Now RCB have stand-in captain and full-time captain in the middle.
4
2
4
Reddy gets Agarwal: 120 for 2 in 10.4
Nitish Kumar Reddy hasn't had a great season with the bat, he was been untidy in the field today, but he has struck in his first over. He hasn't done much apart from just bowling good length. Mayank Agarwal keeps moving around, and then edges a big attempted drive.
And Rajat Patidar comes in as the Impact Player.
3
Salt races to fifty: 116 for 1 in 9.4
Phil Salt has shaken off the early mis-hits in style here. He was 5 off 9 at one stage, but is now 53 off 27. That's 48 off the last 18. He has been brutal against all the bowlers, but the one shot that has stood out is when Dubey went just short of a length and he deposited deep into the stands.
2
2
1
Impact Player Dubey gets Kohli: 80 for 1 in 7
Harsh Dubey has come on as the Impact Player and immediately impressed. He is an old-school left-arm spinner who gives the ball a rip. He is hit for a six by Phil Salt but ends the over by cramping Virat Kohli and having him caught at point.
4
7
3
5
Salt joins the party: 72 for 0 in 6
Eshan Malinga, much like Harshal Patel, starts off with a slower one first up. That is interesting given the ball is still new, but SRH are clear in their minds they have to bowl a lot of slower ones into the pitch here. In the last over of the powerplay, Phil Salt joins Virat Kohli in the carnage, and moves to 20 off 15. Kohli is 42 off 22.
6
1
3
1
SRH keep banging the ball in: 55 for 0 in 5
SRH have been testing the middle of the pitch way more often than RCB did. In the first five overs, they have been shorter than 8m 75% of the times. It's just that they have missed the line often and have been taken for runs. But the plan is clear: go off pace and into the pitch.
3
3
1
1
Salt enjoys luck too: 33 for 0 in 3.1
Harshal Patel starts with a filthy slower ball full toss, which Phil Salt hits straight to deep midwicket. Replays show it is too high by just 3cm. The free hit is caught as well. Caught twice, but Salt bats on.
4
2
4
Kohli enjoys fortune: 31 for 0 in 3
Pat Cummins has been mean with the short ball having hit both Phil Salt and Virat Kohli in the head. One hook has lobbed the deep square leg, who is in off the fence. Then there have been couple of misfields off Kohli's shots. He is now 21 off 12. Salt has dealt in leg-byes. He is 3 off 6.
2
5
Kishan 94* carries SRH to 231
Ishan Kishan has batted through the innings to make sure SRH don't run out of batters at the death. Ravi Shastri says on air that they have gone 25 above par for the conditions. Abhishek Sharma, though, says he expected the pitch to be difficult, but in one over he and Travis Head decided this was perhaps the best pitch they have batted on this year. He says he and Head decided they needed 230-240.
Also Tim David walked off with what looked like a hamstring injury in that final over. Kishan has scored 54 of the last 86 runs that SRH have scored.
3
3
1
5
Ngidi 4-0-51-1: 216 for 6 in 19
Lungi Ngidi deals almost exclusively in slower balls in the 19th over, but the one he bowls on pac e is smacked for a six by Pat Cummins. Plus three mis-hits on slower balls have landed in no man's land and has brought SRH couples.
Now Yash Dayal bowls the last over with only four men on the fence because of their slow over rate.
3
1
1
Kishan running out of partners: 188 for 6 in 17
Romario Shepherd turned around RCB's last match at the end of the first innings with the bat. He is doing the same with the ball here with wickets in each of his first two overs: 15 ad 17. He is 2-0-14-2. Now Ishan Kishan is running out of partners. Can he capitalise on the death overs all on his own? He is 64 off 36 right now.
2
1
Reddy falls cheaply: 164 for 5 in 14.2
The first real failure in that batting line-up. Romario Shepher, bowling for the first time on the night, follows up a yorker with a slower bouncer, which Nitish Kumar Reddy hooks straight to short fine leg. Reddy's season now is 182 runs at a strike-rate of 118.95.
now RCB have a chance to rein SRH in.
3
1
Krunal 4-0-38-1: 164 for 4 in 14
Krunal Pandya has had a mixed bag of a day. He started off well with no boundary in the first over, then Ishan Kishan attacked him but he came back with the wicket of Aniket Verma. He bowled all four on the trot, and has gone at well below the going rate in the match.
3
1
Fifty for Kishan: 158 for 4 in 13.1
This is just his first fifty after that hundred in the first match of this IPL, but this has been a superb innings from Ishan Kishan. He has played the anchor role, but can you believe that he has got to the fifty in just 28balls? Highly efficient hitting.
4
3
3
3
Aniket falls: 145 for 4 in 11.4
1
6
1
1
4
6
6
1
6
W
Pretty eventful last 10 balls as Ishan Kishan joins Aniket Verma in hitting sixes. Krunal Pandya, though, gets his own back with a slowed-down delivery that Aniket goes across the line of. He is gone for 26 off9, Kishan is 40 off 22.
1
1
2
4
Suyash 3-0-45-1: 132 for 3 in 12
There's no slowing down SRH. They have promoted Aniket so that they can keep going after the bowling. Abhinav Manohar and Nitish Reddy are a failsafe behind him. The third over in a row from Suyash is perhaps his best but Aniket has hit him for two sixes over long-off from a good length. That reach of his has made sure he has smacked them clean. He is 20 off 7.
1
1
Suyash gets Klaasen: 102 for 3 in 8.5
Suyash Sharma has had an ordinary start, sliding down leg twice to Heinrich Klaasen and bowling a long hop to Ishan Kishan, but his luck turns when Klaasen ends up shanking a half-volley right down the throat of long-on. He has perhaps got too close to this wrong'un, which he has likely picked.
The wicket comes after Virat Kohli takes a pause and has a chat with Suyash. Still he is 1.5-0-25-1 after that wicket.
1
1
1
Powerplay done: 71 for 2 in 6
Heinrich Klaasen ends the powerplay with a massive pull over midwicket off the bowling of Lungi Ngidi. It's a 96 six. So far we haven't seen any grip from the surface. So SRH will be happy with the 71 but will feel they have lost a wicket too many.
3
2
2
One brings two: 54 for 2 in 4.2
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who went for 18 in his first, makes a superb comeback with a knuckle ball to Travis Head. Head is completely done in for the pace, and ends up hitting him straight down the lap of mid-off. Gone for 17 off 10.
3
2
2
Some relief for RCB: 54 for 1 in 4
It was for a carnage while it lasted but Abhishek Sharma is out. Abhishek has taken most of the strike, and has done most of the hitting. Three sixes and three fours in his 17-ball 34. RCB have bowled without a fine leg all the while and have paid the price for it, and Abhishek possibly looked to flick Lungi Ngidi behind square but found the man at deep backward square leg. RRCB will hope for a breather now.
2
1
3
Quick start for SRH: 26 for 0 in 2
Yash Dayal and Bhuvneshwar Kumar the ones using the new ball for RCB. There is no swing or seam for them, and after a bit of a sighter against Dayal, the SRH openers are doing what they do. Abhishek Sharma charges Bhuvneshwar for four over mid-off, and then pulls the consequent short ball for a six. Both he and Travis Head are 12 off 6 each.
3
4
7
2
Jitesh Sharma wins toss, RCB field
Despite their coach Andy Flower confirming a day before the match that Rajat Patidar was fit, Royal Challengers Bengaluru gave their fans a scare when they sent Jitesh Sharma out for the toss. It would appear Patidar is fit to bat but not to field so he was named in the substitutes list.
Patidar was going to watch the first innings from the dugout as Jitesh won the toss for RCB and asked Sunrisers Hyderabad to bat first on a fresh Lucknow track. Jitesh said they wanted to use the early moisture in the surface. Phil Salt was fit and named in the XI.
SRH welcomed back Travis Head, who missed their last match because of illness, Abhinav Manohar and Jaydev Unadkat. Mohammed Shami, who missed the last match, was named in the substitute list so he could come in when SRH bowl.
This was an important match for RCB, who had already qualified for the playoffs, but were in contention for a top-two finish, which can give them cushion in the playoffs. RCB were second on the table with 17 points, but had a game in hand over Gujarat Titans, who had 18 points. The third team in the race for a top-two finish was Punjab Kings, tied with RCB on 17 points from 12 matches.
Sunrisers Hyderabad 1 Travis Head, 2 Abhishek Sharma, 3 Ishan Kishan (wk), 4 Nitish Reddy, 5 Heinrich Klaasen, 6 Aniket Verma, 7 Abhinav Manohar, 8 Pat Cummins (capt.), 9 Harshal Patel, 10 Eshan Malinga, 11 Jaydev Unadkat
Substitutes Mohammed Shami, Harsh Dubey, Sachin Baby, Zeeshan Ansari, Simarjeet Singh
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 1 Phil Salt, 2 Virat Kohli, 3 Mayank Agarwal, 4 Jitesh Sharma (capt. & wk), 5 Romario Shepherd, 6 Tim David, 7 Krunal Pandya, 8 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 9 Yash Dayal, 10 Lungi Ngidi, 11 Suyash Sharma
5
6
1
4
Conditions report
One boundary is 67m, one is 60m. So there will be an element of using the bigger boundary and match-ups. Aaron Finch says the pitch is dark but also dry so he expects there to be grip in the surface for spinners and quicks who dig cutters into it. And if there is dew later in the night, the toss is crucial.
1
1
1
2
Can RCB regain top spot?
A big match for Royal Challengers Bengaluru coming up. In a regular semi-final format, this match wouldn't have mattered much because RCB have qualified for the playoffs and Sunrisers Hyderabad stand no chance of doing so. Now, though, there is big premium to finishing in the top two. RCB are one point behind the table leaders Gujarat Titans but have a game in hand.
RCB last played 20 days ago. Since then, Rajat Patidar has regained fitness. So all looking bright for RCB. Can they avoid the banana peel that is SRH?
2
3
2
2