RCB defeats SRH on home turf
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) defeated Sun Risers Hyderabad (SRH) in the 41st match of the Indian Premier League (2024) held at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Thursday, April 25. The win marked RCB’s second win in the league and SRH’s first defeat after four back-to-back wins.
The batting line-ups of the teams are as follows:
Royal Challengers Bangalore Squad: Faf du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli, Will Jacks, Rajat Patidar, Cameron Green, Dinesh Karthik (w), Karn Sharma, Mahipal Lomror, Lockie Ferguson, Yash Dayal, Suyash Prabhudessai, Mohammed Siraj, Anuj Rawat, Himanshu Sharma, Glenn Maxwell, Swapnil Singh Reece Topley, Tom Curran, Mayank Dagar, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Alzarri Joseph, Akash Deep, Manoj Bhandage, Saurav Chauhan, Rajan Kumar
Sunrisers Hyderabad Squad: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Nitish Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed, Heinrich Klaasen (w), Abdul Samad, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Pat Cummins (c), Mayank Markande, T Natarajan, Washington Sundar, Anmolpreet Singh, Umran Malik, Akash Maharaj Singh, Mayank Agarwal, Glenn Phillips, Jaydev Unadkat, Rahul Tripathi, Upendra Yadav, Sanvir Singh, Jhatavedh Subramanyan, Vijayakanth Viyaskanth, Marco Jansen, Fazalhaq Farooqi
Bangalore’s captain, Faf du Plessis, won the toss and decided to bat first, quickly raising the bar to 206 runs in 20 overs. RCB players Virat Kohli and Raj Patidar scored 51 (43) and 50 (20), respectively, boosting the team’s morale.
The team managed to set a steady target of 206 runs at the end of the first inning. The half century by Virat Kohli marked a significant milestone as the player became the first batter to score 400 plus runs in 10 or more IPL seasons.
The first four in Hyderabad’s line-up—Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markaram, and Heinrich Klaasen—lost their wickets by trying to follow in RCB’s shoes.
Despite scoring a few good shots, the unnecessary risks taken by SRH’s top batting order resulted in the loss of four essential wickets in the SRH line-up, and by the fifth over, the score was 56/4.
Following the poor performance, SRH was unable to recover from the steady loss of wickets and finished the innings at 171/8 at the end of the final over. The match ended with RCB’s victory by 35 runs and marked SRH’s third loss in eight total matches.
RCB captain Faf du Plessis commends the team for good gameplay
RCB captain Faf du Plessis gave special credit to former RCB captain Virat Kohli and commended the team’s good gameplay, stating, “The competition is so strong; the teams are so strong that you’ll get hurt if you’re not at 100 percent. More guys are scoring runs now. In the first half of the tournament, only Virat scored runs. Greeny’s scoring runs now will be massive for him.”
Plessis also highlighted the remarkable partnership between Kohli and Rajat Patidar after the SRH bowlers took out Faf du Plessis and Will Jacks. Kohli’s 51 off 43 balls and Patidar’s half-century in just 20 balls resulted in mounting scoreboard pressure for SRH and a win for the Orange Army.
Cameron Greens 37 runs in 20 balls in the 16th over of the game also became monumental in RCB’s high target placement.
Rajat’s blinder 🤯, Cam’s all-round show 💪, Swapnil’s stellar debut 👏, Karn’s water-tight bowling 👊 and many more little contributions gave us a much needed win! 🫡
More on that from our dressing room chat. 🎥#PlayBold #ನಮ್ಮRCB #IPL2024 #SRHvRCB pic.twitter.com/M5MW1cRJwl
— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets) April 26, 2024
On the bowling front, the early wicket of Travis Head by off-spinner Will Jacks was a key development early into the game on Thursday. Despite the poor performance of Head in yesterday’s match (1/3), Travis has secured his place in the fifth position of the Orange Cap standings, scoring over 325 runs in seven games this IPL season.
SRH player Abhishek Sharma did put up some resistance, scoring 37 runs in 20 balls pitched by Will Jacks before left-arm spacer Yash Dayal entered the crease on the fourth over.
Dayal lured Sharma with an easy six that was soon converted into a wicket by keeper Dinesh Karthik just as intended, setting the scoreboard at 37/2. Following the fairly quick fall of wickets on SRH’s side, captain Plessis ordered Swapnil Singh to take the fifth over.
Swapnil’s exceptional bowling helped RCB take the wickets of Aiden Markram by LBW and Heinrich Klaasen by a catch caught by Cameron Green by the end of the fifth over, further sealing SRH’s winning expectancy.
Despite the tough competition and high expectation of SRH’s win on home turf, RCB played remarkable well. With the end of their winning streak, SRH experienced first-hand the perils of chasing a high target on a slow pitch. An endeavour that became particularly tougher with the removal of Hyderabad’s top batsmen early into the game.
RCB’s win does not reflect on the points table
Despite Royal Challengers Bangalore’s exceptional performance against a tough opponent like Sun Risers Hyderabad at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Thursday, the team is still stuck at the bottom of the points table.
IPL 2024 POINTS TABLE 2024…!!!
– Season is heating soon. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/yJ7ExgncFo
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) April 25, 2024
RCB has remained in the tenth position of the IPL 2024 Points Table, while SRH is in the third position, having won five of their eight matches. The win marked RCB’s second win this IPL season.
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