IPL 2021: RCB vs SRH Review – Hyderabad clinch a last-over thriller against Bangalore

Royal Challengers Bangalore tried their best but failed to score a total that looked below par when Sunrisers Hyderabad finished their innings. In a nail-biting finish in Abu Dhabi, Hyderabad came out victorious, marking only their third win this season.

Earlier in the evening, RCB skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and put Hyderabad into bat. After losing Abhishek Sharma early for just 13, Jason Roy and Kane Williamson started building a good partnership. Williamson’s wicket for 31 meant SRH were 84 for 2. This followed a collapse. From 105 for 2, they slipped to 107 for 5. After this, some quality death overs bowling restricted Sunrisers Hyderabad for just 141 for 7.

Roy top-scored with 44. As far as RCB are concerned, Harshal Patel starred with three wickets while Yuzvendra Chahal picked one. Dan Christian was the surprise package and ended up picking two of his wickets in the same over. But as Hyderabad struggled to score quickly in the last few overs of their innings, Bangalore, too, found it difficult to get going.

Kohli was dismissed early while Christian’s promotion to no. 3 didn’t work. Srikar Bharat looked good for his 12 but his wicket put RCB in some pressure on 38 for 3. Glenn Maxwell was class with the bat once again as he turned up the rate with his knock of 40 from 25. However, his run out put Hyderabad in some contention once again. Devdutt Padikkal through all of this, but was eventually dismissed for 41 runs from 52 balls.

However, his innings in hindsight came back to bite RCB. Hyderabad bowlers kept chipping in wickets. In fact, all the five bowlers of Hyderabad took a wicket each. All of that kept Hyderabad in the game till the end. AB de Villiers tried his best, but SRH won by just four runs.

Top performers:

Bhuvneshwar Kumar: Under pressure at the death, Bhuvneshwar is one of the best bowlers in the world and he once again proved that. He had to restrict AB de Villiers from scoring 12 runs off four balls and managed to do that. He also got the crucial wicket of Kohli. In his four overs, he gave only 25 runs.

Harshal Patel:

Mr. Purple Patel doing what he does best. 🙌🏻🙌🏻

2️⃣9️⃣ wickets in #IPL2021 now. 🔥 #PlayBold #WeAreChallengers #ನಮ್ಮRCB #RCBvSRH pic.twitter.com/qNwl4G2jce

— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) October 6, 2021

The purple cap holder was once again in his best form with the ball, deceiving batters with slower balls and variations. He first broke the stand between Williamson and Roy, dismissing the former. He then came back to get the wickets of Jason Holder and Wriddhiman Saha.

Personal achievements/records:

• Devdutt Padikkal had a strike rate of 78.84, which is the second-lowest for an IPL innings over 50 balls. Michael Hussey’s knock against KKR in 2013 had a strike rate of 78.43.
• AB de Villiers hit his 250th six in T20 cricket.

Way ahead:

Hyderabad will now face Mumbai on October 8 while Bangalore will play Delhi on the same day.