A spectacular batting display followed by disciplined bowling helped
Royal
Challengers Bangalore to a commanding win over
Sunrisers Hyderabad in their
first game of the
VIVO IPL 2016. Asked to bat first on a batting beauty at
the
M Chinnaswamy Stadium, the home team muscled their way to a massive
227/4
after
AB de Villiers 82 (42b, 7x4, 6x6) and
Virat Kohli 75 (51b, 7x4, 3x6)
dazzled the home crowd with a majestic 157-run stand. While the two left the
visitors perplexed, young
Sarfaraz Khan managed to steal the show with his
highly entertaining 35 off 10 balls.
The Sunrisers were restricted to 182-6 in their chase. Their run-chase
largely depended on captain
David Warner after
Shikhar Dhawan was castled
off the first ball of off-spinner
Parvez Rasool’s first over.
Warner had
ignited the hopes of
SRH fans with his attacking knock. He raced to his
fifty in just 21 balls with the help of four boundaries and as many sixes
But once he was removed by compatriot
Shane Watson with a short ball,
RCB
had the game in their grasp. The Sunrisers had lost half the side for just
101 runs and eventually fell 45 runs short of the target.
Earlier, Sunrisers started on a promising note when
Chris Gayle, whose top
score against
Hyderabad has only been 35, once again failed against the
Orange brigade.
Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who has often troubled the big man
accounting for him twice in T20Is, got the big wicket off just the second
legal delivery he bowled. Doubts were created in Gayle’s mind immediately
when
Bhuvneshwar bowled a beautiful outswinger first up. The second delivery
pitched on leg, clipped Gayle’s pads and crashed onto the stumps. Interestingly
this was the first time in the
IPL that Bhuvneshwar dismissed Gayle.
However, RCB recovered quickly despite the early jolt with Kohli and
de
Villiers taking on the bowlers.
The South African star hit Nehra
for two fours and a six while
Kumar’s next over too was smashed for
two boundaries and a six. The two big overs propelled the home to 49/1
at the end of the
Powerplay period. There was no stopping the duo and
the almost full M Chinnaswamy Stadium witnessed plenty of fireworks
Leggie
Karn Sharma’s second over was dispatched for two sixes, the
second landing on the roof.
The assault forced captain Warner to bring Nehra back, but the veteran
speedster headed back to the dugout after bowling just one ball with what
appeared to be a groin strain.
Young Ashish Reddy, called into complete the
over, ended up being cannon fodder to de Villiers, who raised his fifty off
just 26 balls with two back-to-back boundaries. From the other end, Kohli
brought up his fifty in 40 balls with a massive six.
With both motoring along, a possibility of two centuries in the same innings
of a
T20 was raised. But Bhuvneshwar Kumar disrupted that possibility in his
second spell, when he bowled Kohli with a yorker.
Making his debut for the RCB,
Watson, the costliest buy at the IPL
Player
Auction 2016, signalled his arrival with three consecutive sixes off the
leg-spinner Karn Sharma. The spinner had a forgettable outing conceding
57 from his four. The
18th over bowled by
Bangladesh sensation
Mustafizur
Rahman resulted in two wickets of de Villiers and Watson with
183 on board.
On a night when RCB’s international stars flexed their muscles, rookie
Sarfaraz Khan managed to overshadow everyone with a spectacular display
of T20 batting. The teenager made the experienced Bhuvneshwar look ordinary
after bludgeoning him for four boundaries and a six in the penultimate over
Sarfaraz showed he was ready for the big stage that IPL provides with his
breathtaking array of scoops
. In the final over, he slog swept
Rahman for
a six and a four to finish unbeaten on 35 from just 10 balls. Rahman was
the only silver lining for the visitors, as he gave away just 26 from his
four overs.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bangalore (AB de Villiers 82, Virat Kohli 75
Sarfaraz Khan 35 not out,
Mustafizur Rahman 2/26) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad
182-6 (David Warner 58, Shane Watson 2/30) by 45 runs
Man of the Match: AB de Villiers, for his 82 off 42 balls
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- published: 13 Apr 2016
- views: 9047