Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s (RCB) hopes of reaching the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 playoffs race hang by a thread as they ended their losing streak to beat Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by a comfortable margin on 35 runs. Despite the win, RCB stay at the bottom of the points table with two wins from eight games. SRH's net run rate (NRR) took a hit but they stayed at the third place with five wins from eight games.
Fiery start, Patidar hits 19-ball fifty
Earlier, Faf du Plessis won the toss and opted to bat first. Virat Kohli started the innings with a boundary against Abhishek Sharma. Du Plessis and Kohli made use of the fielding restrictions. They were 43 for no loss after three overs. T Natarajan broke the opening partnerhip with the wicket of Du Plessis. He scored 25 runs from 12 balls. After powerplay overs, RCB were 61/1. Will Jacks failed to capitalise on a good start. He got bowled by Mayank Markande in an attempt to sweep. Kohli struggled to score quickly in the middle overs while Rajat Patidar attacked. Patidar hit Markande for four sixes in a row in the 11th over. He reached his half-century from 19 balls in the 13th over.
RCB finish big
After reaching his half-century, Patidar got caught in the deep. Jaydev Unadkat broke the partnership. Patidar's 20-ball 50 featured two fours and five sixes. Kohli reached his half-century from 37 balls. In the next over, he got out to Unadkat's slow off-cutter. Cameron Green tried to score quickly and hit Pat Cummins for two fours. Unadkat in his last over dismissed Mahipal Lomror for a single-digit score. Dinesh Karthik lost his wicket to Cummins in the penultimate over. Swapnil Singh hit a six and two fours. He lost his wicket to Natarajan on the final ball of the innings. Green's 20-ball 37 helped RCB post 206/7.
Fiery start but too many wickets fall
In the run chase, Head lost his wicket to England's Jacks in the first over. Abhishek took on Jacks and hit him for two sixes and a four. Abhishek's cameo was ended by Yash Dayal. The opener scored 31 runs from 13 balls. In his first over, Swapnil was hit for a four and two sixes but he dismissed Proteas duo Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen. After powerplay overs, SRH were 62/4. Karn Sharma in his first over got through Nitish Reddy who went for a reverse sweep and got bowled. Samad once again failed to acclebrate and was dismissed cheaply. Karn took his catch on followthrough. SRH were 89/6 at the halfway stage.
SRH lose big
Skipper Cummins decided to take the attack to the opposition. He hit rookie Swapnil for two sixes. In the next over, he hit Karn for a four followed by a six. Green was introduced in the attack and Cummings got out off a short ball. He scored 31 runs from 15 balls. Bhuvneshwar Kumar hit a few boundaries before becoming Green's second victim. Shahbaz and Unadkat stayed till the end as SRH managed to post 171/8 and lost the match by 35 runs. Shahbaz scored 40 runs from 37 balls.
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