SRH vs RCB: Royal Challengers Bangalore retain spot in top four with resounding win over Sunrisers Hyderabad
India Today
Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) were on a rampage after winning five matches in a row, but the pressure is right back on them as they have lost four matches in succession in IPL 2022.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), on Sunday, May 8, defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 67 runs at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. With the victory, Faf du Plessis and Co. also strengthened their hold among the top four teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 league stage.
The Challengers got off to the worst possible after electing to bat first as Virat Kohli perished for his third golden duck in the ongoing edition of the tournament. Jagadeesha Suchith, who replaced Shreyas Gopal, churned out a harmless delivery outside leg-stump and Kohli lobbed a catch to Kane Williamson.
From there on, skipper du Plessis and Rajat Patidar put on 105 runs for the second wicket to put RCB in the driver’s seat. Just when Patidar was looking good for his half-century, Suchith sent him back for 48. Glenn Maxwell came out firing on all cylinders and smashed 33 runs before Kartik Tyagi dismissed him.
Du Plessis played a captain’s knock as he stayed unbeaten on 73 with the help of eight fours and two sixes. But the most impactful knock came from Dinesh Karthik, who has rediscovered himself in the current season. Karthik smashed an unbeaten 30 off eight balls and took RCB close to the 200-run mark.
In the last over of RCB’s innings, the Tamil Nadu-born veteran put Afghanistan pacer Fazalhaq Farooqi to the swords. The right-hander finished off the innings with three sixes and a four, helping his team post 192. Barring Suchith, the rest of the Sunrisers’ bowlers failed to make inroads.
Like RCB, the Orange Army made a terrible start to their innings as well. Shahbaz Ahmed pulled off a stupendous direct hit as SRH skipper Kane Williamson got out without facing a single ball. In the same over, Maxwell castled the in-form Abhishek Sharma, who didn’t disturb the scorers.
With SRH in dire straits, Rahul Tripathi and Aiden Markram restored sanity to proceedings with a much-needed 50-run stand for the third wicket. Markram was a tad subdued in his approach as he scored 21 runs before the wily Wanindu Hasaranga sent him packing in the ninth over.
