Dinesh Karthik got to face eight balls and scored 15% of Royal Challengers Bangalore’s total while scripting another of his forceful finishing acts. Skipper Faf du Plessis, having opened, was unbeaten on 73 off 50 balls to help set a 193-run target for Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.
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At the innings break, RCB would have reflected on not having given Karthik more playing time. It didn’t matter in the end as SRH capitulated to 125 all out, half their side falling to leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga. This was SRH’s fourth successive defeat and boosted RCB’s playoff chances, who now have 14 points.
Kohli’s third golden duck
Having forced SRH to field in the searing Mumbai heat, du Plessis and Rajat Patidar did some good work to reach 93/1 at the halfway mark after losing Virat Kohli first ball. The Wankhede stands were still filling when Kohli found the softest way of getting out, chipping a catch to short mid-wicket. One wouldn’t know if left-arm spinner Jagadeesha Suchit was given the first over to target Kohli, but he certainly found a way to extend his wretched form. It was Kohli’s third golden duck of an IPL season in which he has only 216 runs to show in 12 matches at a strike rate of 111.34.
Karthik’s assault
Between overs 11 and 15, SRH bowlers slowed RCB down with only 33 runs scored losing Patidar’s wicket (48—38b). Before Karthik came on to bat, du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell had completed a 50-run third wicket partnership, but they couldn’t break free. Bhuvneshwar Kumar had done some smart death overs bowling. Enter Karthik and he first spoiled young pacer Karthik Tyagi’s figures by launching him over deep mid-wicket in the 19th. He then turned to debutant Fazalhaq Farooqi. The Afghan left-arm seamer was also having a decent game until Rahul Tripathi grassed Karthik at deep square-leg off the third ball of the final and it went for six. Farooqi lost control and Karthik (30*–8b, 1×4, 4×6) capitalised with three more strikes (6-6-4) to close the innings with a 25-run over.
SRH batters flop
The start of SRH’s reply was even more eventful than RCB’s. Skipper Kane Williamson, who has had to endure a poorer season than Kohli, was run out without facing a ball. Distracted by that dismissal, opener Abhishek Sharma was bowled Glenn Maxwell for a three-ball nought after missing a pull. It made it a two-wicket first over for Maxwell.
Being caught in a string of defeats, SRH batters could never provide momentum to the run-chase. Tripathi (58—37b, 6×4, 2×6) kept the attacking intent up, but every time he tried to forge a partnership, Hasaranga foiled his plans. RCB’s Sri Lankan leg-spinner got Aiden Markram (21) with a leg-break and Nicolas Pooran (19) with a googly. The game was all but over when Tripathi holed out to deep backward square leg off Josh Hazlewood. Hasaranga polished off the tail to finish with 4-1-18-5.
