Mumbai: Faf du Plessis anchored the innings with an unbeaten 73 while Dinesh Karthik provided a grandstand finish with a sensational eight-ball 30 to propel Royal Challengers Bangalore to a daunting 192/3 against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. For Hyderabad, left-arm spinner Jagadeesha Suchith took two wickets in a largely forgettable bowling performance.
Bangalore’s innings had an inauspicious start as Virat Kohli flicked a full ball straight to short mid-wicket off left-arm spinner Jagadeesha Suchith. It was also Kohli’s second golden duck against Hyderabad and third of this season.
Du Plessis and Rajat Patidar took care of scoring in power-play after Kohli’s fall with boundaries coming consistently. The duo took a liking to the extra pace of left-arm seamer Kartik Tyagi, hitting him for two fours and a six in the final over of power-play. Patidar was the main aggressor, smacking Suchith for a six over long-off and stood tall to punch Umran Malik through extra cover for four.
Du Plessis caught up with Patidar, hammering Malik through mid-off for four and earning a reprieve on the very next ball when Rahul Tripathi couldn’t catch his pull and conceded a boundary. He ended the over with a pulled six over long-on to take 20 off Malik’s first over.
With Tyagi and Malik going for plenty in their opening overs, Hyderabad had to turn to the sixth bowling option in Abhishek Sharma’s left-arm spin. But that didn’t stop du Plessis and Patidar from bringing the century of the partnership apart from the Bangalore skipper reaching his fifty with a four through extra cover off Tyagi.
The 105-run off 73 balls between Patidar and du Plessis ended when Suchith forced the former to hole out to deep mid-wicket. But there was no respite for Hyderabad as Glenn Maxwell began with a bang, bringing out the switch hit to whack Suchith for a huge six over cover. Maxwell and du Plessis constantly found boundaries in their stand of 54 off 37 balls before Tyagi took out the former in the 19th over.
But Dinesh Karthik spoiled Tyagi’s final over with a six slogged over deep mid-wicket. He then proceeded to bring his A-game to the fore in finishing the innings by smacking Farooqui for three sixes — over deep square leg, long-on and deep mid-wicket — before thumping a four straight through long-on to give Hyderabad a daunting target of 193.
Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 192/3 in 20 overs (Faf du Plessis 73 not out, Rajat Patidar 48; Jagadeesha Suchith 2/30, Kartik Tyagi 1/42) against Sunrisers Hyderabad
(IANS)
