Little hiccup in the journey but we'll carry on: Virat Kohli

Only two matches remained for the Royal Challengers to cap off the league stage of the Indian Premier League 2021, with a playoff spot already secured and as many as four points up for grabs to move into the top two of the table. They say consider, "one game at a time." That’s exactly what we believe in. It was the time to renew some intense rivalry with Sunrisers Hyderabad. 

Having won the toss, Captain Kohli decided to field first. The same eleven has been used for two matches in a row as no changes were made at the start.

Put on to bat first, Jason Roy and Abhishek Sharma opened the innings for Hyderabad. When the young left-hander attempted to use the long handle to smash every delivery out of the park, he was caught off guard by a slower one from George Garton. This was RCB's first wicket within the batting powerplay in the UAE-leg of the tournament.

The opposition skipper, Kane Williamson, and the Englishman played elegant drives and strokes to keep the scoreboard ticking. When they were looking to take control of the innings and make it a high-scoring encounter, Mr. Purple Patel and co. had different ideas. Harshal won the psychological battle and scalped the sticks of Williamson which resulted in a pacer's dream dismissal. From there it was Roy on one end and other batsmen couldn't consolidate. 

The 31-year-old, who was on the verge of bringing up his half century, was sent back to the pavilion by Dan Christian, who struck the wickets of both Roy and Priyam Garg in the 14th over. Harshal Patel and Yuzvendra Chahal picked up four wickets between them in the process, which helped RCB to restrict SRH to not going over the 150-run mark.

The Sunrisers Hyderabad bowlers put on pressure right from the word "lights out", which troubled our batsmen to get off to a good start. Glenn Maxwell joined Devdutt Padikkal for the fall of the third wicket at the crease. The duo played sensible cricket in the middle overs where they built a 54-run partnership. The Aussie all-rounder was dismissed by a brilliant direct throw to the stumps from Kane Williamson while trying to steal a single from inside the 30-yard box. We fought till the very end, but it wasn't our night. Kudos to SRH, who managed to script a 4-run victory at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium.

"Having lost a couple of early wickets, rebuilding was key. Maxi's run-out was the game-changing moment. With AB you are never out of the game, but it is about making sure that the guy who's in flow should be on strike. Not as effective when chasing that down. Shahbaz played a crucial knock at that stage, it is a game of small margins, I think Sunrisers held their nerve and bowled their last few deliveries pretty well to not allow us to get away. Looks like he's back to his best after a layoff. Little hiccup in the journey but we will carry on with the same momentum," Virat Kohli said at the post-match presentation.

Up next, RCB will face Delhi Capital in the last league match of IPL 2021 at the Dubai International Stadium on Friday, October 8.