Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru took the top spot in the points table and set up a Qualifier 1 clash against Gujarat Titans having done enough in their defeat to Sunrisers Hyderabad in Hyderabad. Heading into this game, the margins were fine for SRH to claim a top-two finish but they took it head-on and slammed 255. They still needed to restrict RCB to less than 166 which proved to be a tall order against one of the better batting sides of the season.
SRH go all in to qualify for playoffs
The SRH opener flew, with the help of a flat surface and a few butter fingers in the field. Pat Cummins put the onus on his batters to do the heavy lifting after choosing to bat first, and the Abhishek-Travis Head duo teed off. Against two of the best bowlers of the season – Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Josh Hazlewood – they picked fours at will. Rasikh Salam took out Head with a pinpoint yorker on the off-stump and nearly had Abhishek too, with a back-of-the-hand slower one, but Venkatesh Iyer dropped a catch at deep square leg. Abhishek’s six off Bhuvneshwar in the opening over was the only six of the Powerplay, but he laid into Suyash Sharma and Romario Shepherd in the seventh and the eighth over, taking two sixes each off them to get to a 20-ball half-century. Two of those sixes were boundary line catching opportunities that didn’t come off for RCB.
Rajat Patidar stuck with Suyash Sharma, and the leggie tossed up a googly to induce another miscue from Abhishek. This time it went into the hands of substitute fielder Jordan Cox at long on.
The South African started out slowly until he came face to face against Hazlewood. RCB looked like they could pull the game back a little as Romario Shepherd bowled a five-run over, but Klaasen more than made up for it against the Aussie ace in the 13th over. Hazlewood began with an attempted yorker that Klaasen tonked after taking his leg out of the way. Hazlewood followed that up with an uncharacteristic slot ball that Klaasen launched into the midwicket stands. Hazlewood looked like he nailed his wide yorker, but Klaasen was able to stand his ground and throw his bat at it to send it behind point for a four. A full toss followed that was sent for yet another six to cap off a 27-run over – the most Hazlewood has conceded in T20s. Against Bhuvneshwar in the 15th over, Klaasen smashed one over extra cover to take his season tally past 600 runs.
It was one of those nights – and pitch – where every batter with a bat was capable of dropping jaws. Alongside Klaasen, the No.3 batter too went after the bowling – he got sixes off Suyash and Krunal Pandya early on and then was effective against Bhuvneshwar too. He got to a half-century off 31 deliveries and went on to bat through until the last ball. He picked up one six and two fours off Rasikh Dar at the death and though it looked like fatigue was setting in, he finished on 79 off 46.
In what world could a bowling attack have supposedly pulled things back at the end and still conceded 255? In this Hyderabad one. Though Nitish Reddy walked out throwing his hands around for a 13-ball 29*, only 17 runs came off the last 12 deliveries from Bhuvneshwar and Rasikh.
RCB plays it safe to secure top 2 spot
RCB’s big-money signing found a rare opportunity at the top of the order with Jacob Bethell injured and Phil Salt still getting back up to speed. He made the most of it on this batting deck, setting the ball rolling in RCB’s chase with a 19-ball 44. The tall left-hander threw his hands around against Pat Cummins and then laid into left-arm wrist spinner Shivang Kumar, who was trusted to bowl the fourth over. Venkatesh smashed three sixes and a four in a 23-run over to bring up RCB’s fifty in four overs. He perished in the fourth over when he mistimed a short ball from Eshan Malinga to Ishan Kishan at deep midwicket.
Sakib Hussain showed the way. He bowled six successive cutters in the sixth over, and conceded just four singles and accounted for Virat Kohli, who hit a ball outside the off-stump straight to cover. Harshal Patel came in as the impact substitute ahead of Praful Hinge and he too started by bowling cutters. Eshan Malinga took to it too, and then took out Devdutt Padikkal who found the deep square leg fielder.
SRH set them a gargantuan target but all RCB needed for a top-two finish was 166. They all but played to those terms, rarely taking risks after getting to 100 at the halfway stage. Cummins attempted to throw all his attacking options at RCB, but they couldn’t pick wickets to try and ruffle feathers. But to make matters worse for his team, Cummins dropped a straightforward chance in the 16th over off Malinga. Off the SRH captain in the 17th over, RCB went past 166 to confirm their top-two spot and set up Qualifier 1 clash against Gujarat Titans. SRH’s Harshal move didn’t yield results either as he missed his lengths and capped off his rare outing this season with figures of 0-37.
Yes, that happened. The off-spinner sent the RCB captain packing with a rank long-hop in the 18th over. Krunal Pandya and Tim David took RCB to exactly 200, giving SRH a 55-run victory and a third-place finish.
SCORECARD: Sunrisers Hyderabad 255/4 [Ishan Kishan 79 (46), Abhishek Sharma 56 (22), Heinrich Klaasen 51 (24), Nitish Reddy 29* (12)] beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru 200/4 in 20 overs [Venkatesh Iyer 44 (19), Rajat Patidar 56 (39), Krunal Pandya 41* (31); Eshan Malinga 2-33] by 55 runs