Karn Sharma, Cameron Green and Swapnil Singh claimed a couple of wickets each on top of a superb bowling effort to help Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 35 runs for their first win after six successive defeats in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Thursday.
Karn Sharma claimed 2-29 in three overs, Cameron Green bagged 2-12 in two and Swapnil Singh made his mark as an Impact Player by getting the dangerous Aiden Markram (7) and Heinrich Klassen (7) in 2-40 as Royal Challengers Bengaluru came up with a brilliant bowling performance after Virat Kohli and Rajat Patidar hammered half-centuries to help them reach 208/7.
Cameron Green came up with a superb all-round effort, hitting a 20-ball 37 besides taking a good catch as SRH were restricted to 171/8 in 20 overs, chasing a stiff target of 207.
Considering that SRH has scored two of the biggest totals this season, it was a chasable target for them, but they failed to gain any momentum and slumped to their third defeat of IPL and remain in third position. RCB have now won their second match but remain at the bottom.
Sunrisers Hyderabad virtually lost the match in the Power-play as they suffered four setbacks — none more debilitating than the wicket of opener Travis Head for one run in the first over.
RCB skipper Faf du Plessis had boldly decided to bat first against an in-form SRH and then continued with his fearless approach by opening the bowling with off-spinner Will Jacks. The move paid off as the 25-year-old English man struck gold on the last ball of the opening over when Head, who came in as an Impact Substitute, tried to hit him out of the park only to see the ball spin away and top edge it to Karn Sharma on the off-side.
Fellow opener Abhishek Sharma, who has a strike rate of 200-plus just like his opening partner Head, hammered a 13-ball 31 studded with three boundaries and two sixes before he fell to Yash Dayal, attempting a pull but mishits it, managing to slice in the air for keeper Dinesh Karthik to pouch a skier.
It became 41/3 in the fifth over when Aiden Markram tried to hit Swapnil Singh but completely missed the delivery to be trapped LBW for seven runs. And when a few deliveries later Heinrich Klassen, after hitting Swapnil for a six, was out for seven off 3 balls as SRH slumped to 56/4 in the fifth over and their chase of 207 was in disarray as they ended the Power-play at 62/4. Swapnil, who came in as an Impact Player, made a real impact by bagging the wickets of bit hitters Aiden Markram and Klassen.
The dangerous Nitish Kumar Reddy was castled by Karn Sharma playing an ugly switch hit despite the difficult situation his team was in as SRH slumped to 69/5. Abdul Samad (10), who greeted Lockie Ferguson with a swat over long-on off his first delivery, chipped back to Karn Sharma, totally foxed by the leg spinner as he jumped out even before the ball was released.
Pat Cummins raised SRH hopes by hammering Swapnil Singh for back-to-back sixes in the 11th over and blasted Karn Sharma for a four and six off successive deliveries in the next over, fell to fellow Aussie Cameron Green, trying to hit a short, wide delivery to Mohd Siraj at short third man, beaten by lack of pace in the delivery. He blazed to 31 off 15 balls, hitting one four and three sixes. SRH were 124/7 and the writing was clear on the wall. Green claimed one more wicket, sending back Bhuvneshwar Singh (13) as the run rate kept rising and SRH kept losing wickets.
Brief scores:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 206/7 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 51, Rajat Patidar 50, Cameron Green 37 not out; Jaydev Unadkat 3-30, T.Natarajan 2-39) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 171/8 in 20 overs (Shahbaz Ahmed 40 not out, Abhishek Sharma 31, Pat Cummins 31; Cameron Green 2-12, Karn Sharma 2-29, Swapnil Singh 2-40) by 35 runs