It was the Ishan Kishan show yet again as the keeper batter loves batting against RCB and showed his class out there in the middle. Ishan Kishan took his time and then turned it on and scored a blazing 79 off 46 balls, and was the last man to be dismissed. Abhishek Sharma played a blazing knock of 56 off 22 balls while Travis Head made 26 off 16 balls. Heinrich Klaasen made 51 off 24 balls while Nitish Kumar Reddy finished it off with 29 off 12 balls as SRH finished with 255/4 in 20 overs.
In reply, RCB started off to a flier with Venkatesh Iyer finishing with 44 off 19 balls. Devdutt Padikkal finished with 21 off 14 balls, while captain Rajat Patidar made an excellent 56 off 39 balls, Krunal Pandya made 41 off 31 balls, and Tim David made 15 off 7 balls. Eshan Malinga got a couple of wickets to his name as SRH beat RCB by 55 runs. RCB still finished on top of the table while SRH finished in 3rd place.
Ishan Kishan’s blazing innings powered SRH to a massive 255/4 in 20 overs
Winning the toss and deciding to bat first, Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head came out to open for SRH while Bhuvneshwar Kumar had the ball in hand for RCB. With a placid pitch on offer, SRH came out all guns blazing courtesy of both the openers. Head started well, and Abhishek was not far behind either. Most bowlers were taken to the cleaners. The duo put on 45 for the first wicket in 4 overs before Head fell for 26 off 16 balls with 5 fours to his name to Rasikh Salam, who knocked the batter over. Keeper batter Ishan Kishan came out to bat next.
Abhishek took on the bowling. He took on the role of aggressor now, with Ishan taking a little bit of time to get his eye in. Abhishek was at his explosive best. SRH were 63/1 in 6 overs of power play and were off to a solid start. Post the power play, SRH batters upped the ante as they aimed for a humongous score on the board. Abhishek was in his rampaging mood, while Ishan was going at more than a run a ball. The duo added 52 runs in quick time for the second wicket before Abhishek fell for 56 off 22 balls with 4 fours and 5 sixes to his name to Suyash Sharma.
Heinrich Klaasen came out to bat next. Ishan Kishan then upped the ante while Klaasen took his time getting in for the initial balls. Ishan was then on a roll while Klaasen opened up soon after. He went after Hazlewood a lot as 27 runs were conceded by the veteran Aussie bowler. It was pure carnage, with RCB bowlers having no answer as the middle phase completely went SRH’s way.
The duo put on 113 runs off 48 balls for the third wicket before Klaasen, who completed his fifty, fell for 51 off 24 balls with 2 fours and 5 sixes to his name. Nitish Kumar Reddy came out to bat next with about 2.4 overs left in the innings. Kishan then stepped it up as a senior player while Reddy provided the perfect finishing kick. Ishan converted his start to a significant score. The duo added 45 runs inside 3 overs before Ishan was the last man to fall for 79 off 46 balls with 8 fours and 3 sixes to his name to Salam off the last ball of the innings.
Reddy remained unbeaten on 29 off 12 balls with one four and 3 sixes to his name as SRH finished with a massive 255/4 in 20 overs. 14 extras in the form of wides given by the fielding side.
Rasikh Salam finished with 2/52 in 4 overs. Suyash Sharma finished with 1/36 in 3 overs. Krunal Pandya finished with 1/24 in 2 overs. Romario Shepherd finished with 0/37 in 3 overs. Josh Hazlewood finished with 0/55 in 4 overs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar finished with 0/51 in 4 overs. This meant that RCB needed to win 256 runs off 20 overs to win the contest. More importantly, SRH needs to keep RCB to 166 or less to finish in the top 2.
Rajat Patidar scores a half-century, but SRH wins the game by 55 runs and finishes in 3rd place
Chasing a massive 256 for the win, Venkatesh Iyer and Virat Kohli came out to open the batting for RCB while Pat Cummins had the ball in hand for SRH. It was the Venkatesh Iyer show as he took apart the SRH bowling in the power play. Virat Kohli played second fiddle at the other end and kept the scoreboard ticking. Venkatesh was on a roll as he took Pat Cummins apart. The opening duo added 60 runs for the first wicket in 4.3 overs before Venkatesh fell for 44 off 19 balls with 4 fours and 4 sixes to his name to Eshan Malinga.
Devdutt Padikkal came to the crease and started all guns blazing as well. Virat was struggling out there and soon fell as well. The duo for the second wicket put on 14 runs for the second wicket before Virat fell for 15 off 11 balls with 2 fours to his name to Sakib Hussain. Captain Rajat Patidar came out to bat next to close the power play. RCB were 75/2 in 6 overs of power play.
Things slowed down post the power play. RCB course corrected and decided to go for the top 2, and had two targets in mind. The first one was 166, the second one was 178. 178 to top the league standings, and they slowed down their approach a bit as SRH bowled a lot better than RCB. But RCB did well not to lose their way and collapse, and the pitch aided the batters. So, in the end, they could achieve what they wanted to. The duo added 20 runs for the third wicket before Padikkal fell for 21 off 14 balls with 2 fours and one six to his name to Malinga.
Krunal Pandya came out to bat next. Krunal applied himself out there while Patidar played a responsible captain’s knock for his side. It showed in their approach that they were now going for the top 2 rather than winning the game. Rajat played aggressively while Krunal got good batting practise out there. They first passed 166 and then 178 before the next wicket fell. The duo of Krunal and Rajat added 84 runs off 58 balls before Rajat fell for a well-made 56 off 39 balls with 6 fours and a maximum to his name to Travis Head.
Impact Player Tim David came out to bat next with 10 balls left in the innings. Krunal played his shots, and David played his game by practising range hitting out there. The duo added 22 runs in the last 10 balls for the 5th wicket as RCB ended with 200/4 in 20 overs. Krunal remained unbeaten on 41 off 31 balls with 5 fours to his name, while Tim David remained unbeaten on 15 off 7 balls with one four and one six to his name. 8 extras given by the fielding side.
SRH bowled really well out there. Eshan Malinga finished with 2/33 in 4 overs. Sakib Hussain finished with 1/31 in 4 overs. Travis Head bowled an over for 7 runs and picked up a wicket. Pat Cummins went for 48 runs in 4 overs. Shivang Kumar finished with 0/32 in 2 overs. Impact Player Harshal Patel finished with 0/37 in 4 overs. Nitish Kumar Reddy finished with 0/10 in 1 over. So, SRH gets the win and finishes in 3rd place with a 55-run win. Ishan Kishan was awarded the Player of the Match.
What Lies Ahead
So, SRH finished in 3rd place with 18 points from 14 games, the same as the top 2. Despite losing this game, RCB finished top on 18 points while GT finished second with 18 points. The 4th spot is still up for grabs. RCB vs GT will be Qualifier 1 in Dharamsala, while the Eliminator will feature SRH, and who they will face will be determined in a couple of days. Tomorrow night, it will be LSG hosting PBKS in Lucknow with Punjab needing a win to stay alive in the race. They need to win, Punjab, while LSG will want to win to end the tournament on a high.
Let’s see how this game goes and whether PBKS stays alive in the race till the final day.
Also Read:Â SRH vs RCB: SRH & RCB Eye Top 2 Finish