Sunrisers Hyderabad apply the brakes on RCB on a slow Sharjah track

It was a forgettable game for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. A sucker punch from the Sunrisers Hyderabad and RCB suffered their sixth loss of the Dream11 IPL 2020 and the third consecutive loss. On a track which played slow, the Sunrisers bowlers cherished the conditions, used them to their advantage, and despite the best efforts of the RCB bowlers, Sunrisers ran out comfortable winners.

Having been inserted to bat, the innings lacked any sort of intent right from the word go. The SRH bowlers used their cutters and slower balls to perfection, and the young RCB openers struggled to set the pace. While Josh Philippe held the fort, RCB’s two top-scorers of the season in Devdutt Padikkal and Virat Kohli fell to Sandeep Sharma within the powerplay.

It was a track which took turn quickly, and not even the class of AB de Villiers could look comfortable. Rashid Khan spun a few past AB’s bat, and the feeling was ominous. With the run rate going nowhere, De Villiers felt the need to go after the bowling. Despite getting a couple of his shots away, the over from Shahbaz Nadeem ended on a sour note as De Villiers found Abhishek Sharma at deep extra covers. When Philippe found deep mid-wicket in the very next over, any chance of a big score had begun to look feeble.

Washington Sundar and Gurkeerat Singh tried their best to resurrect the innings. A flourish was needed at the end for RCB to give their bowlers a competitive score to bowl at. But, the Sunrisers bowlers used the conditions to perfection and the RCB could not get the finish they would have hoped for. Only one six at Sharjah was indicative of the forgettable batting innings RCB endured.

To put up any sort of a fight, RCB would have needed wickets in the powerplay. Washington Sundar getting the big wicket of David Warner raised a few hopes. But, in a small run-chase, all SRH needed was one good partnership. The experienced pair of Wriddhiman Saha and Manish Pandey provided exactly that. By the end of a quick-fire 50-run partnership, SRH had knocked off half of RCB’s total. Yuzvendra Chahal and Isuru Udana kept the fight going. With the ball slowing down off the track, the duo kept chipping away at the wickets column while keeping the scoring rate down. But, at the end of the day, 121 was too little to defend, and SRH got over the line comfortably with 35 balls to spare.

For RCB, it is all to play for on Monday when they take on the Delhi Capitals. For the moment, RCB retain the second position on the points table despite the loss and the fate still within their own hands. A win against the Capitals and RCB will clinch the second spot.