IMAGES from the Indian Premier League match played between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Lucknow, on Friday.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru squandered a golden chance to finish inside the top two of the IPL points table, going down to Ishan Kishan-fuelled Sunrisers Hyderabad by 42 runs in Lucknow on Friday.
Resultantly, Royal Challengers (17 points) have slid to third place on the table behind Gujarat Titans (18) and Punjab Kings (17). The Net Run Rate (NRR) also took a significant beating.
Once they were asked to chase an imposing 232, which the SRH set after Kishan made a stunning unbeaten 94 off 48 balls, RCB required some calculated assault on the target.
They mounted it through Phil Salt (62, 32b, 4xx, 5x6), Virat Kohli (43, 25b, 7x4, 1x6) and Jitesh Sharma (24, 15b), but could only amass 189 before getting bundled out, and it was RCB's first defeat away from home this season.
But the beginning of RCB's chase offered a different tale, as Kohli and Salt sprinted to 80 runs in just 7 overs.
Kohli, who had recently retired from Test cricket, was the chief aggressor, clattering pacers Harshal Patel for two fours and Eshan Malinga for a swatted six over mid-wicket.
But the veteran fell to an old nemesis -- left-arm spin -- for the 22nd time in his storied T20 career, this time to 22-year-old Harsh Dubey, the highest wicket-taker in 2024-25 Ranji Trophy season for champions Vidarbha.
However, Salt, who made 14 off his first 12 balls, found his depth at the right time, smashing 48 runs in the next 20 balls, and a tennis-style forehand six off Nitish Kumar Reddy was just stunning in its execution.
Salt raced to fifty in 27 balls but cramps curtailed his movements, and soon perished to Pat Cummins.
But on a rather smooth pitch, the RCB batters kept on finding regular boundaries to keep the asking rate from escalating.
Skipper Rajat Patidar (18) and Jitesh Sharma (24) added 44 quick runs for the fourth wicket to take RCB to 173 for three in the 16th over.
But a horrible mid-pitch between them saw Patidar getting run out by a couple of miles, and in the same over Malinga jettisoned big-hitting Romario Shepherd for a first-ball duck.
Jitesh perished to Unadkat and Tim David, who appears to have suffered a hamstring injury, in the space of nine deliveries as the fight soon ebbed out of the Royal Challengers.
In fact, the Bengaluru side lost the last seven wickets for 60 runs as Cummins (3/28) and Malinga (2/37) led SRH's bowling charge.
Earlier, powered by an aggressive unbeaten 94 by Ishan Kishan, Sunrisers Hyderabad flexed their batting muscles to reach an imposing 231 for six against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in an IPL match in Lucknow on Friday.
Sent in to bat first, the Hyderabad side went ballistic from the beginning through usual suspects Abhishek Sharma (34, 17b) and Travis Head (17, 10b) before Kishan found his range during his 48-ball knock studded with seven fours and five sixes.
The famed 'Travi-shek' added 54 runs in just four overs, as the left-handers blitzed RCB new ball bowlers Yash Dayal and Bhuvneshwar Kumar with a flurry of fours and sixes.
Bhuvneshwar conceded 18 runs in the second over as Head hammered him for a boundary, followed by a six and another four by Abhishek.
Just as the alliance began to touch dangerous proportions, Abhishek flicked Lungi Ngidi straight into the waiting hands of Phil Salt at square leg as the innings that played at a strike-rate of 200 came to an end.
Head too did not last long as the Aussie lobbed a knuckle ball from Bhuvneshwar to Romario Shepherd at the edge of the circle.
It soon transpired into a trend in SRH innings as their batters, except Kishan, engaged in mindless aggression.
Of course, there have been a slew of loose balls by RCB bowlers but they also managed some good ones in between.
The dismissals of Heinrich Klaasen (24, 13b) and Aniket Verma (26, 9b) underscored that point, as both of them had helped Kishan to milk 48 and 43 runs for the third wicket and fourth wicket alliance respectively.
Klaasen, who punished Suyash Sharma for a four and six, fell to the leg-spinner, lofting his googly to Shepherd at long-on.
Aniket looked so promising but disrespecting a slightly slower, short of length delivery from left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya led to his ouster, giving a simple catch to Bhuvneshwar.
But Kishan was a constant amidst all these fumblings at the other end, playing with a sensible head and adequate rhythm.
The left-handed power-hitter has been off-colour after that century in the initial part of the IPL, but showed glimpses of his destructive powers in this innings.
He never overdid things like some of his colleagues, and the measured six off Bhuvneshwar in the last ball of the 18th over was a treat to watch as he galloped to his first fifty in 10 innings in 28 balls.
But the sight of Tim David walking off the field in the final over the innings in what appeared to be a hamstring trouble isn't good news for the Royal Challengers.
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