IPLT20: Match Day 3: Sunrisers Hyderabad Vs. Royal Challengers Bangalore

Royal Challengers Bangalore along with Kolkata Knight Riders have always been the poster boys of IPL. The swag of their owners especially when Vijay Mallya was at the helm of affairs made RCB a team always on the news.

The profile of their players also made fans excited. Be it Chris Gayle or Virat Kohli or AB DeVillers. But top-heavy batting lineup never got the team the desired results. RCB remains one of the lowest-performing teams when it comes to IPL.

This year it looks slightly different because finally, they seem to have made the right choices. Their balance in the team looks good and hopefully, 2020 would be that breakout year for RCB.

Yesterday was RCB’s first match in this year’s IPL and here are my 5 breakout points from the match.

1. Devdutt Padikkal

People who follow Indian domestic cricket should not be surprised by this name. He has had a phenomenal 2019-20 and it was no surprise that he was named in the opening lineup yesterday. He looked like a class apart yesterday. His fluid strokeplay on the offside and in the V stamped his class. It was expected that Aaron Finch would be the aggressor with Padikkal playing the second fiddle. But it was completely the opposite. A 90 run opening partnership at a quick time gave RCB the start that they needed for a solid middle-order to make the most. The best part was that it was dominated by Padikkal who himself scored a dominant 50. We will hear a lot about him in the near future.

2. The ABDV finish

If the opening partnership gave RCB a rousing start, it was left to AB Devillers to finish it off. Losing both the openers in the space of 2 balls meant RCB had to play a period of consolidation as both Kohli and AB got their eye in. Virat couldn’t score many and that left AB to finish things off nicely. The innings stuttered in the middle overs and RCB would have struggled to reach 150 if ABDV didn’t give the necessary push. The sixes that he hit were those which only AB can especially the hit over extra cover. remember these grounds are at least 15 metres longer than the Chinnaswamy Stadium. It was his hitting which ensured that RCB crossed 150 and finally ended up with a score of 163 runs.

3. Johny Bairstow

Bairstow started his IPL career last year and he was the standout player in the initial part of last year’s IPL. Nothing changed and he was on the money right from the word go. Sunrisers Hyderabad has a big gaping hole in the middle order this year especially with Shakib not available hence its a very top-heavy batting lineup. Bairstow didn’t disappoint and till he was there it looked an easy chase for SRH. In fact, he had scored 50% of the runs of SRH till he was there. He along with Manish Pandey played a good hand after the initial dismissal of Warner. That he was the highest scorer among all players in the match proved his dominance yesterday. Ironically his wicket made all the difference yesterday.

4. Yuzvendra Chahal

Chahal is a product of IPL. He first burst into the scene a few years back and been a permanent spinner for RCB. A leg spinner who loves playing chess and it was no surprise that he was always looking to get wickets. A few years back he used to pick up wickets but used to go for a lot of runs but he learnt new tricks, improved his line of attack, varied his pace and broke into the Indian team. he along with Kuldeep Yadav made India a force to reckon with in the limited-overs format in 2018-19. Yesterday when the Bairstow-Manish partnership was going well, it was Chahal who broke that partnership by taking the wicket of Manish Pandey. His first 3 overs went for only 12 runs. But it was the final over that turned out to be the defining over of the match. With SRH looking set to win at 121/2, Chahal took 2 wickets in 2 balls including the prize scalp of Bairstow. 121/2 suddenly became 121/4 with a dodgy middle order and an injured Mitchel Marsh. Chahal finished with 3/18 in his 4 overs and was rightly declared the Man of the Match.

5. The collapse

Chahal triggered the collapse but the equation was still in Sunrisers’ favour. If you want to know what is the meaning of “Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory” – look no further other than the highlights package of yesterday’s chase. From 121/2 SRH collapsed to 153 all-out losing 8 wickets for 32 runs in the space of 22 balls. Comical run out of Abhishek Sharma and an equally comical way of getting out of Priyam Garg just amplified the troubles of SRH. Mitchel Marsh’s injury didn’t help either. This was the second-worst collapse in IPL history and something that SRH has to forget very quickly.

RCB starts with a win which is a rarety going by their past records but SRH looks in trouble already. First, they don’t have the services of Shakib and now Williamson is injured and his replacement Mitchel Marsh also got injured. The young Indian players have to step up otherwise this would be a campaign to forget for SRH.

So what are your views on yesterday’s match? Is RCB looking strong to be the title contenders this year?

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