All-rounder Jason Holder was the only positive aspect on Saturday as a stumbled Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to keep their hopes alive of a playoff berth in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

With the five-wicket win over RCB in Sharjah, Hyderabad jumped from seventh place to fourth on the points table. Bangalore, on the other hand, suffered their third straight defeat and will now face Delhi Capitals in a do-or-die situation in their last league match.

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Now, as many as four teams — SRH (net run rate +0.555), Kings XI Punjab (-0.133), Rajasthan Royals (-0.377), and Kolkata Knight Riders (-0.467) — are locked at 12 points each. They all have one match left to play, and their final positions could be determined by the net run rate.

After restricting Virat Kohli’s men to a paltry total of 120/7, Hyderabad had a mini collapse in the middle-order before Holder smashed unbeaten 26 off 10 balls to help his team sail through with more than five overs to spare. The West Indian had earlier taken 2/27 with the ball.

Chasing the target, SRH lost skipper David Warner (8) cheaply with just 10 runs on board as Washington Sundar (1/21) drew the first blood.

Wriddhiman Saha (39) and Manish Pandey (26) then repaired the early damage as their side raced away to the 50-run mark in 5.2 overs.

Yuzvendra Chahal (2/19) applied brakes on the developing partnership when he accounted for the wicket of Pandey in the seventh over.

SRH then lost Saha and Kane Williamson (8) within another 27 runs with their scorecard reading 87/4 in 12.1 overs.

Holder (26 not out) and Abhishek Sharma (8) then stitched a 27-run stand for the fifth wicket. But just when SRH were seven runs away from crossing the line, Navdeep Saini stuck to send back Sharma in the 14th over.

Holder smacked Chahal for a maximum over long-on fence to steer his side home with 35 balls to spare.

Put into bat, RCB batters failed to convert the start. It was the collective effort by AB de Villiers (24), Josh Philippe (32), Washington Sundar (21) and Gurkeerat Singh (15 not out) as RCB somehow limped to a moderate total.

Apart from Holder, Sandeep Sharma with his figures of 2/20 was brilliant with the ball.

Brief scores: RCB 120/7 wkts in 20 overs (Josh Philippe 32, AB de Villiers 24; Sandeep Sharma 2/20) lost to SRH 121/5 in 14.1 overs (Wriddhiman Saha 39, Jason Holder 26; Yuzvendra Chahal 2/19) by five wickets

With IANS inputs