IPL 2018, RCB vs SRH: Hits and Misses 

The action returned to the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore after more than two weeks as Royal Challengers Bangalore faced Sunrisers Hyderabad. Kane Williamson won the toss and had no hesitation in bowling first.

RCB didn’t get off to the best of starts as they lost both opener, Parthiv Patel and skipper Virat Kohli inside 5 overs. But Moeen Ali and AB de Villiers batted beautifully as they shared a fantastic 107-run stand in just 57 deliveries. De Villiers scored a scintillating 39-ball 69 while Moeen made a superb 65 in 34 balls.

However, the duo got out in the 15th over and it looked like RCB might lose all the momentum. But Colin de Grandhomme (17-ball 40) and Sarfaraz Khan (8-ball 22) played brilliant cameos and propelled RCB to 218.

In reply, SRH got off to a good start but lost both their openers in the space of 3 overs. AB de Villiers took a blinder to dismiss Alex Hales who was looking very good. But Kane Williamson kept the ‘Men in Orange’ in the hunt as he scored a superb 81.

Manish Pandey scored a very good 62 as well as the two shared a superb 135-run stand for the third wicket. But Williamson fell in the final over and that turned the game in RCB’s favour as they held their nerve to register their 6th win of the tournament.

This win kept RCB alive as they climbed to the fifth spot on the points table with 12 points.

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#5 Miss: Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli's stumps were shattered as he tried to go for a slog sweep.

Without a doubt, Virat Kohli has been RCB’s best batsman this season. It was the fifth time he scored more than 500 runs in an IPL season (which is a record). In another must-win encounter, the onus was once again on Kohli and AB de Villiers to pull RCB through.

The RCB skipper walked out to open the batting alongside Parthiv Patel for the second game in a row. Batting first, Kohli got off to an excellent start as he drove one down the ground and got off the mark with a beautiful boundary. But he played just 6 deliveries in the first 4 overs as he saw AB de Villiers 5 boundaries in that phase.

Rashid then came onto bowl in the 5th over and bowled 3 dots to start. Kohli then pulled one to the fence for his second boundary. However, the RCB premier batsman fell to a poor shot and was castled. He tried to slog one across the line only to see his stumps shattered. Kohli fell for an 11-ball 12 and his wicket reduced RCB to 38/2.

#4 Hit: Rashid Khan

Rashid Khan was the only bowler who had an economy of under 7 in this game.

Rashid Khan has been brilliant this year but hasn’t taken a heap of wickets. His best figures in this season has been 3/19 against KXIP. But his economy has been brilliant and his four overs have played a crucial part in most games.

However, he’s gone wicketless in the last couple of games. But once again he came back strongly as he took 3/27 against a quality RCB batting line-up. He came onto bowl in the fifth over of the innings and was in action straight away. He picked up the wicket of Virat Kohli on the fifth delivery as he castled the RCB skipper with a very good wrong’un.

He then bowled a couple of decent overs giving away 17 runs. But he did excellently in his final over where he picked up the wickets of AB de Villiers and Moeen Ali, both of whom were batting superbly. He finished with figures of 3/27 and was by far, best bowler on display today.

#3 Miss: Basil Thampi

Basil Thampi was hit all over the park by the RCB batsmen.

Basil Thampi has been a little unfortunate this season. He’s in a side that has the best bowling attack in the tournament. The Kerala pacer has played only when one of the main bowlers has got injured or is rested. Before today, Thampi played three games and had taken 5 wickets.

He came in place of Bhuvneshwar Kumar for this game. He came into bowl in the 8th over of the innings and was carted away for 19 runs in his first over as he conceded a couple of sixes and a four. He then conceded 18 runs in his next over as RCB started targeting him.

He then went for 33 runs in his last two overs and finished with 0/70 which is the most expensive spell in IPL history. He sprayed the ball all over and he was hit all over the park.

#2 Hit: Moeen Ali

Moeen Ali was brilliant as he scored an excellent 65.

Moeen Ali has been an excellent addition to the RCB line-up. Despite not contributing a lot with the bat, he’s added nice balance and has been in decent form with the ball. He batted in two innings and batted at different positions in both games.

In his third innings of the season, he batted at another difference position, at No. 4 this time. He came out to bat in the 5th over with RCB under a bit of pressure. They had just lost Kohli and were reduced to 38/2. But Ali came in and changed the momentum of the game and also took pressure off AB de Villiers.

Barring Rashid Khan, the England all-rounder took all the SRH bowlers to the cleaners as he struck a fabulous 34-ball 65. He shared a superb 107-run stand with AB de Villiers in less than 10 overs before he tried a fancy reverse-sweep off Rashid Khan. Nonetheless, his innings gave RCB a much-needed boost and gave them the momentum going into the death overs.

He bowled a couple of overs and got the wicket of Alex Hales. All in all, it was a good day for the England all-rounder.

#1 Hit: Kane Williamson

Kane Williamson scored his 8th fifty of the season.

Kane Williamson has evolved as T20 player immensely. There was absolutely no doubt about his game in the longer formats (Tests and ODIs) but he has faced criticism in the recent past for his ability in the T20s. But in this IPL, he has proved his critics wrong.

Williamson has more or less carried the SRH batting line-up this season. Again in this game, the SRH skipper was brilliant. Chasing 219, Williamson walked out to bat in 6th over. He came in and batted flawlessly as he stroked his way to a fabulous 42-ball 81. It was his 8th half-century of the season.

Even as runs weren’t quite flowing from the other end in the middle-overs, Williamson continued to bat and kept finding the boundary at regular intervals. He kept SRH in the hunt right throughout despite the asking rate being quite high.

Every time there was pressure building, the Kiwi batsman found a way to score a boundary and release the pressure. However, he fell in the final over trying to lap one over fine-leg and his team fell short.

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