On this day in 2018 - Batting shines as RCB beat SRH in a thriller

Despite enduring an uninspiring first ten games of the league phase of the 2018 season, with only three wins. RCB miraculously still in contention for the playoffs. The next two games brought about two convincing wins, including a 10-wicket drubbing of KXIP with 71 balls to spare, which put Bangalore well in contention for the playoff spots by giving a huge boost to the net run rate. However, RCB needed to win both of their remaining games, and their next challenge was to beat the Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Chinnaswamy.

Having been put in to bat first, RCB got off to a terrible start, losing Parthiv Patel in the first over itself. If the capacity crowd at the Chinnaswamy were hoping for a Virat-AB special, they were left disappointed as Kohli’s exuberance to take on Rashid Khan saw him losing his off and middle stumps. With the score on 38/2, Moeen Ali joined AB De Villiers at the crease.

De Villiers and Moeen Ali took a couple of overs to settle, and once they both were set, they went on a counter-attack. With the run rate hovering around 7 an over, Moeen Ali chanced his arm against Basil Thampi and the strategy paid off, as the eighth over yielded 19 runs. It is often in the middle overs that teams take control of the game, and with two attacking players in the middle, RCB had the chance to seize the initiative. The five overs between the tenth and the fourteenth saw the score skyrocket from 73 to 144, a mammoth 71 runs scored in the five overs. 

Both Moeen Ali and de Villiers got to their fifties in double-quick time. However, as he invariably does, Rashid Khan turned the game on its head. The game-changing over saw both ABD and Moeen Ali dismissed by the Afghan leggie, and any hopes of RCB getting to a 200+ score seemed to have evaporated. 

The dismissals of the two talismanic batsmen could have caused a lull in the scoring rate, but the Kiwi monster Colin De Grandhomme kept the scoreboard chugging along. Basil Thampi was having a nightmare, and De Grandhomme was not going to spare him. Thampi’s four overs had been taken for 70 runs, Grandhomme and Sarfaraz Khan going after the hapless seamer. The last four overs proved highly productive for RCB as the 55 runs were taken off it, Grandhomme’s 17-ball 40 proving decisive in RCB reaching 218/6 in their 20 overs, giving the score a much-needed facelift on a bowlers’ graveyard.

The 107 run partnership between AB De Villiers and Moeen Ali set the platform for RCB’s huge total

Sunrisers got off to a flyer, thanks to Alex Hales and the first five overs of the innings had knocked 47 runs off the target. Virat Kohli turned to the leg-spin of Yuzvendra Chahal for a breakthrough, and the Haryana leg-spinner got rid of Shikhar Dhawan off the first ball of his second over, giving RCB a much-needed respite. However, the dangerous Alex Hales was still going great guns, and with Kane Williamson at the crease, RCB needed to keep taking wickets to stem the flow of runs. It needed something special to get rid of Hales, and that something special came from the superman AB De Villiers. Hales clobbered Moeen Ali over mid-wicket, the ball looked to have been headed over the ropes, only for the Superman from South Africa to pluck the ball out of thin air, keep his balance, stay mindful of the ropes and stick a perfect landing much to the delight of RCB fans and the awe of Hales.

Kane Williamson is considered one of the contemporary greats of the game, and he was out to show just why. The Kiwi batsman, without a single clumsy trick, went about in pursuit of the tall run chase in his classic style. The boundaries kept flowing and RCB bowlers struggled to dislodge the partnership between the Kiwi Williamson and the local lad Manish Pandey. The duo reduced the runs required to 67 off the last 5, a stiff task but not beyond the means at the Chinnaswamy. Chahal’s last over went for 12 runs, and with 4 55 needed off the last 4, RCB needed a good over to turn the scales in their favor. Virat Kohli turned to the experience of Tim Southee, and the Kiwi fast bowler delivered when it mattered. A mixture of yorkers and slower balls saw the over going for only 6 runs, a magnificent effort under the circumstances. 

Siraj’s 18th over went for 14 runs, but that did little to flip the balance of the game. The penultimate over went for 15 more and Siraj was entrusted with the task of defending 20 runs off the final over. Kane Williamson went for a scoop over fine-leg off the first ball and holed out to his fellow countryman De Grandhomme. The rest of the over went for only 5 runs, and RCB had defended a total at the Chinnaswamy by 14 runs and managed to stay in contention for the top 4 despite Sunrisers losing only 3 wickets.