Sunrisers Hyderabad rode on the brilliance of David Warner once again to grab a 15-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore at Hyderabad on Sunday. Warner's destructive knock of 92 runs, off just 50 balls, guided the home side to a daunting total of 194, which they defended with gusto.
Brief Scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 194/5 in 20 overs (David Warner 92(50), Kane Williamson 50(38); Kane Richardson 2/45, Shane Watson 1/33) won against Royal Challengers Bangalore 173/6 in 20 overs (KL Rahul 51(28), AB de Villiers 47(32); Ashish Nehra 1/32, Mustafizur Rahman 1/34)
KL Rahul was back opening the innings alongside Virat Kohli after they unsuccessfully tried out Shane Watson in their last match. The 24-year-old made a promising start to his innings,and even overshadowed his more senior partner at the other end. Bengaluru were cruising along nicely at 42/0 when Warner brought on Mustafizur Rahman into the attack in the 6th over, and the Bangladeshi pacer dismissed the dangerous Virat Kohli for just 14 – his lowest score in a T20 innings this year.
However, that wicket did not dampen the spirit of Rahul as he went in all guns blazing. The stand-out shot in the first 10 overs of RCB's innings was a majestic pull shot from Rahul, off Barinder Sran, which deposited the ball into the stands over the deep square leg boundary. He was playing with an aggression you normally do not associate with someone who is labelled as a technically correct Test batsman. In fact, despite having AB de Villiers at the other end, it was Rahul who was hogging the limelight.
He brought up his half-century in the 10th over, off just 26 deliveries, but lamentably for RCB, he returned to the pavilion in the same over after edging one to the keeper, in his attempt to run the ball down to the third man.
De Villiers, whose catch was previously dropped by Ashish Nehra in the 6th over, once again got a reprieve in the 11th over this time through Deepak Hooda. As the required rate rose above 12, the South African upped his gear and went after Henriques in the 14th over and hit him for two consecutive sixes.
Nehra and Hooda breathed a collective sigh of relief in the 15th over when Kane Williamson did what they could not – took the catch of de Villiers. His dismissal, three short of another half-century, put Hyderabad firmly in the driver's seat.
De Villiers' dismissal slowed down the run rate considerably, and RCB were left to chase 22 runs in the final over, with Kedar Jadhav and Parvez Rasool at the crease. The duo fell short by 15 runs in the end, with Rasool getting out in the final delivery. With the win, Sunrisers Hyderabad jumped to fourth place in the points table, while RCBcontniued their poor run losing four out of the six matches in the season.
Earlier, Virat Kohli won the toss and for the first time, Royal Challengers Bangalore had the opportunity to bowl first. They came into this match on the back of a defeat against the Gujarat Lions, and Kohli announced four changes to their starting lineup. Varun Aaron, Parvez Rasool, Harshal Patel and Sachin Baby replaced Sarfaraz Khan, Stuart Binny, Yuzvendra Chahal and Iqbal Abdulla. Bangalore had strengthened their fast bowling attack in hopes of exploiting the wicket which had been affected by rain.
Hyderabad finally gave a game to Kane Williamson, while Barinder Sran and Ashish Reddy also returned to their lineup.
Shikhar Dhawan, who has recently shown signs of returning to form, started off well with a lovely straight drive off Shane Watson, and then a lofted drive over mid-on off Parveez Rasool. However, Kane Richardson picked him up in the fourth over, and once again Hyderabad were left to rely on their skipper David Warner to deliver the goods.
The Australian has been in scintillating form this and was fourth in the scoring chart at the start of this game with 294 runs in 6 innings – staggeringly, he has scored 36.28% of Hyderabad's runs so far in the tournament.
This time, he had a more reliable partner in Kane Williamson at the other end, and the duo produced a crucial partnership of 124 runs in just 73 balls. The warning signs were there early for Bengaluru, when Warner went after Harshal Patel in the sixth over and hit him for 16 runs – including a six over long-on off a free-hit.
Williamson was playing his part as well. He kept rotating the strike and chipped in with boundaries at regular intervals. In the 10th over, Warner brought up his fifth half-century of the season with a slap through the extra cover boundary off Rasool. As the innings reached towards its conclusion, Warner opened up his arms and took Richardson to the cleaners in the 15th over.
It started with his version of a helicopter shot over the deep midwicket fence for a six. Richardson tried a slower bouncer in the next delivery and Warner muscled it along the ground to the same part of the fence. The fourth delivery was a quicker bouncer and this time, Warner just guided it over the third man boundary for another six – he was toying with the bowlers at this point.
Eventually, Shamsi picked up Warner's wicket in the 16th over, not before the Australian had hoisted him for a massive six over long-on, and that led to a couple more wickets in quick succession. Moises Henriques provided the momentum Hyderabad were looking for at the end of the innings with a knock of 31 runs from just 14 balls, as they posted a daunting total of 194 runs.
