Sunrisers Hyderabad came up with an excellent batting and bowling display to get the better of a more fancied Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore. The win was built on the back of a solid bowling display, in which everyone from the main strike bowlers to the part-timers contributed, not allowing RCB to get away after a promising start. With the bat then, their openers were superb, and set up the foundation for a highly impressive Hyderabad triumph. Having been thumped in their previous encounter, this will be a definite confidence booster for Hyderabad.
The match was decided in the wake of a massive batting collapse of Bangalore. Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli had gotten the side off to an impressive start with some flowing boundaries, but Gayle did not last long enough to threaten Hyderabad. Both Kohli and AB de Villiers got 40s, but after their dismissals, Bangalore completely fell apart. The performance reiterated how heavily Bangalore depend on the big three. Even against KKR, it was Gayle, who singlehandedly pulled them through.
If you look at Bangalore's scorecard in the innings, it can be noted that six of their batsmen fell in single-figure scores, too high for a T20 game. Like last season, Dinesh Karthik was purchased for a heavy sum this time as well, but he has been a disappointment in the two games so far. Darren Sammy and Mandeep Singh also failed against Hyderabad, and their quick dismissals really set Bangalore back considering they have a weak lower order. It was a bit too much to expect the likes of Sean Abbott, Harshal Patel and Varun Aaron to fire with the ball.
Hyderabad's bowling was excellent, it must be said. They were put under pressure early on by Gayle and Kohli, but once they broke the partnership, they were dominant force. It was a wonderful all-round effort from the bowlers. Trent Boult was the most impressive of all with three wickets, but almost everyone made a significant impact on the day. Praveen Kumar got the big scalp of Gayle, Karn Sharma kept the runs down and sent back Karthik while Bhuvneshwar Kumar took the tail. But, the most significant of all contributions came from Ravi Bopara, who got Kohli and Mandeep off consecutive balls.
Once, Hyderabad had restricted Bangalore, they needed a confident start to put relieve any pressure. This is exactly what skipper David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan did. Unlike in the last game, Warner was in his elements from the start. He took on the bowlers and came out on top. Dhawan held one end up nicely while KL Rahul came out and finished off things when the pressure was completely off. A thoroughly professional display from Hyderabad.
--By A Cricket Analyst .
