Royal Challengers Bangalore 192 for 3 (du Plessis, 73*, Patidar 48, Suchith 2-30) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 125 (Tripathi 58, Hasaranga 5-18, Hazlewood 2-17) by 67 runs
Virat Kohli bagged his third golden duck this IPL, but strong hands from Faf du Plessis, Rajat Patidar and Dinesh Karthik propelled Royal Challengers Bangalore to 192 for 3. In reply, Sunrisers Hyderabad lost both their openers, Kane Williamson and Abhishek Sharma, for ducks and eventually careened to their fourth successive defeat after having won five in a row.
It was Patidar, promoted to No. 3, who began the repair job before du Plessis cranked up the tempo during their 105-run partnership off 73 balls. Karthik then shellacked 30 off a mere eight balls, including a sequence of 6, 6, 6, 4 off the last four balls, to give the innings a rousing finish.
The momentum seamlessly shifted towards Royal Challengers in the middle and end overs as a depleted Sunrisers attack, which was missing T Natarajan and Washington Sundar, was left scrambling for an extra option. Umran Malik bowled only two overs for 25, with Abhishek pitching in for the other two.
Rahul Tripathi battled with a 37-ball 58 but the regular fall of wickets at the other end and the rapidly rising asking rate was too much to overcome. Legspinner Wanindu Hasaranga benefited from that scoreboard pressure and came away with 5 for 18 to seal a net-run-rate boosting victory for Royal Challengers.
Patidar, du Plessis step up after Kohli wicket
The first ball of the match, from J Suchith, was just short of a leg-stump half-volley and Kohli simply chipped it into the hands of Williamson at short midwicket. Just like that, Williamson snuck in a two-run first over from the left-arm fingerspinner.
Royal Challengers' response was to bump up Patidar. After quietly knocking the ball into the gaps, he made everyone sit up and take notice when he swatted a Bhuvneshwar Kumar legcutter off the front foot over wide long-on for six in the fourth over. Patidar was responsible for 23 of the 47 runs Royal Challengers put together in the powerplay.
Malik has been Sunrisers' enforcer in the middle overs, but du Plessis tucked into him in his first over, hitting him for two fours and six off successive deliveries. The second four could've instead been a wicket had Tripathi held on to a fairly tough chance at midwicket.
du Plessis also took a liking to the extra pace of Kartik Tyagi and raised a 34-ball half-century after being on 9 off 13 balls at one stage. The first two overs of Mailk and Tyagi produced a combined 37 runs. Patidar fell two short of his fifty when he dragged Suchith straight to deep midwicket.
Maxwell, Karthik play sparkling cameos
Glenn Maxwell announced himself with a switch-hit six second ball, off Suchith, and then belted Malik through the covers for four. When Bhuvneshwar marginally missed his yorker, Maxwell got underneath the length and walloped him for six. When Tyagi put one on a similar length, Maxwell swung for the hills, but this time he picked out Aiden Markram in the outfield.
Karthik came to the crease in the 19th over, and the options Sunrisers had for the last over were Malik and Fazalhaq Farooqi, the Afghanistan left-arm seamer who was playing his first IPL game.
Williamson sided with Farooqi but under pressure, he ditched the slower balls for the on-pace deliveries, which were right up Karthik's alley. Farooqi could've cut short Karthik's knock at 8 had Tripathi held on to a more straightforward chance at deep midwicket. However, Tripathi let the ball burst through his hands and land on the boundary cushions. Karthik pounded two more sixes and a four on the next three balls to ensure Royal Challengers got an above-par total.
The start
Sunrisers had a terrible start to their chase, losing both Williamson and Abhishek for ducks. While Williamson was run out without facing a ball, Abhishek was castled by a slider from Maxwell. The double blow left Sunrisers at 1 for 2 in the first over. Markram struggled to 17 off 19 balls in the powerplay, which brought 39 for Sunrisers overall.
The endgame
Tripathi showed his range by helping Josh Hazlewood over short fine leg for four, scoop-sweeping Shahbaz Ahmed for another four in the same region and launching Mohammed Siraj over extra-cover for six. However, Hasaranga picked off one batter after another at the other end to offset Tripathi's blows.
When Tripathi fell to Hazlewood in the 16th over, Sunrisers needed 79 off 26 balls. They were bundled out for 125 with four balls unused in their innings.
