Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) made a mess of their run chase as bottom-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) dented their hopes of a top-two finish with a narrow four-run win in a last-over IPL 2021 thriller in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
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After putting on board a modest 141/7, SRH returned to limit RCB to 137/6x for only their third win in the league. Chasing the total, Devdutt Padikkal (41) and Glenn Maxwell (40) scored bulk of the runs but RCB kept losing wickets and faltered in the end.
Defending 18 off last two overs, Jason Holder bowled a superb over, giving away just five runs for one wicket. AB de Villiers smashed a six in the fourth ball of the final over bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar but couldn't take the team home as the South African could not pull off a six the team needed in the last ball.
Earlier, opener Jason Roy (44) shared a 58-ball 70 run stand with skipper Kane Williamson (31) to set the platform but SRH lost three quick wickets for two runs in seven balls to eventually end up with a below-par total.
RCB were dealt an early blow in their chase when Bhuvneshwar trapped Virat Kohli in the first over. The decision to promote Daniel Christian at number 3 also didn't work as he was deceived by a slower delivery by Siddarth Kaul.
At 18/2, Srikar Bharat joined hands with Devdutt Padikkal and produced two handsome shots for a six and a four to take RCB to 37/2 in six overs. New pace sensation Umran Malik then struck in his fifth delivery, removing Bharat as RCB slipped to 38/2.
New-man in Maxwell made his intent clear, clobbering Rashid Khan for a maximum. He repeated the treatment again, sending the Afghan spinner over long-on and then sweeping him for another four. But with Malik clocking 150km plus consistently, RCB decided to target the other bowlers.
However, a poor call by Padikkal ended with Maxwell being runout, while the former too was caught at the boundary line as RCB further slumped to 109/4 in 16.5 overs. Needing 29 off 18 balls, Shahbaz Ahmed smashed two fours to bring the equation down before being dismissed by Holder in the 19th over.
For RCB, Harshal Patel (3/33) and Daniel Christian (2/14) did the maximum demage after skipper Virat Kohli opted to bowl. Spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal (1/27) and Shahbaz Ahmed (0/21) kept things in check, while George Garton conceded 29 runs in two overs for his one wicket.
Abhishek Sharma, asked to open the innings, smashed a four and a six off Garton in the second over before holing out to Maxwell. Williamson started off with a good-looking cover drive and then pulled one from Siraj for another boundary through square leg.
The New Zealand skipper was all elegance as he played two sweetly-timed shots for two more hits to the fence off Garton Left-arm spinner Shahbaz attacked the stumps but when he erred Roy was quick to pull him through square leg. After the end of Powerplay, SRH were 50/1.
Spin duo of Shahbaz and Chahal bowled in tandem, not allowing the batsmen to free their arms. While Roy lived dangerously, Williamson's stumps were knocked off by Patel with a cutter when he tried to create room for himself as SRH slipped to 84/2 in 12th over.
Priyam Garg smashed a six off Chahal before being caught by AB de Villiers off Christian in the next over. Five balls later, Christian pulled off a sensational catch off his own bowling to remove the well-set Roy. Chahal trapped Abdul Samad infront of wicket in the first ball of the next over as SRH slumped to 107/5 in 15.1 overs.
Wriddhiman Saha was next done in by a slower delivery by Patel. Rashid (7 not out) and Holder (16) tried to accelerate before the latter fell in the last ball.
