Lucknow, May 24 (IANS) Royal Challengers Bengaluru will be ruing the missed opportunity to go top of the Indian Premier League 2025 table as Sunrisers Hyderabad handed a crushing 42-run defeat to the playoffs-bound franchise in Match 65 at the Ekana Cricket Stadium here on Friday.
With this loss, RCB’s run rate has taken a heavy hit and pushed them down to third place in the table with Punjab Kings moving past due to their superior run rate. Gujarat Titans is still at the top of the table with 18 points and Mumbai Indians in fourth with 16.
Asked to bat first by RCB’s stand-in skipper Jitesh Sharma, Sunrisers Hyderabad rode on Ishan Kishan’s unbeaten 94 to reach a massive total of 231/6 in 20 overs.
Openers Abhishek Sharma (34) and Travis Head (17) gave the Sunrisers a flying start with their heavy hitting and reached the 50-run mark in just 15 deliveries. Just when it seemed the two were on for a big score, RCB scalped both batters in a matter of three deliveries. Abhishek flicked Lungi Ngidi’s full-length delivery straight to Phil Salt. Just two deliveries later, it was Bhuvneshwar who claimed the important wicket of Head.
After targeting Suyash Sharma, Heinrich Klassen (24) fell to the bowler while attempting to clear the fielder at the long-on boundary but was caught by Shepherd.
Kishan kept up the momentum by hammering a short delivery by Krunal Pandya for six before Aniket Verma (26) joined in the fun with two maximums and a four off Suyash for a 19-run 11th over. The duo similarly dealt with Pandya by getting a six each off his opening three balls. Aniket’s time at the crease came to an end when a leading edge saw the ball balloon towards backward point for a simple catch by Bhuvneshwar.
Kishan, on the other hand, had no intentions of letting the fall of wickets at the other end halt the flow of runs and raised his half-century in 28 balls. Nitesh Kumar Reddy’s (4) lean run of form continued as the all-rounder was undone by Shepherd.
With Kishan firing from the other end, Abhinav Manohar (12) struggled to get going and it was once again Shepherd who got the vital breakthrough for RCB.
Kishan ended the inning just short of the century landmark and took SRH to 231/6 in 20 overs with a four and a six in Yash Dayal’s final over. He ended with 94 not out off 48 balls, a knock laced with seven boundaries and five sixes.
In response, Virat Kohli (43) took the fight to the SRH bowlers. He began the proceedings with a late cut off Pat Cummins, before punching Jaydev Unadkat through wide mid-off with authority in the next over. A pull shot towards deep mid-wicket, which just evaded Nitesh Kumar Reddy, off Cummins, saw the veteran take charge of the opening overs, while Phil Salt (62) struggled to get going, contrasting their regular dynamic.
With the required run rate being matched, almost uncharacteristically, Kohli failed to get on top of the bounce off Harsh Dubey and sliced the ball straight to Abhishek at backward point.
Mayank Agarwal (11), brought in as an injury replacement for Devdutt Padikkal, got off the mark with a four, but his return was cut short by a good length delivery in the channel by Reddy, as he edged to Klassen. Incredibly enough, RCB were still flying at 167/3 at the end of the 15th over before disaster struck.
Reddy clamped up the pressure and allowed only four off the next six deliveries, which resulted in Malinga completely flipping the game on its head. A yorker saw RCB try to steal a quick single, but the pacer got to the ball first and dismissed Rajat Patidar, who was left in no man’s land, with a direct hit.
Malinga continued to torment RCB by pouching a catch off his own bowling to dismiss Romario Shepherd (0) on his first delivery. The game completely seemed to slip away from RCB when Jitesh miscued a slot delivery straight to Abhinav Manohar at deep mid-wicket.
Tim David (1), who was forced off the field after pulling up in the final over in the first innings, was struggling heavily and was concerningly unable to take singles. Malinga obliged by ending his innings with a lower full toss, saw the Aussie hit it straight to long-on.
Pat Cummins castled Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3) before Krunal Pandya (8) hit his own stumps with his bat. Harshal Patel rounded the game up for SRH as Yash Dayal (3) was caught in the deep to dismiss the side for 189 to seal the 42-run victory.
Brief scores:
Sunrisers Hyderabad 231/6 in 20 overs (Ishan Kishan 94*, Abhishek Sharma 34, Aniket Verma 26; Romario Shepherd 2-14) beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru 189 all out in 20 overs (Phil Salt 62, Virat Kohli 43; Pat Cummins 3-28, Eshan Malinga 2-37) by 42 runs
–IANS
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