After a long wait, Royal Challengers Bengaluru finally managed to get back to the winning ways as they defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 35 runs at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. They cleverly elected to bat first after winning the toss, which might have played a role in them getting an edge over SRH. Virat Kohli gave a good start for the visiting team as the other batters did their part to help RCB post 206 runs on the board in the first innings.
Meanwhile, Virat Kohli has been on the receiving end on social media for his knock. Even though some appreciated his anchor role, many criticised his strike rate and consider it to be a problem if he continues with it in the upcoming T20 World Cup. However, if his team is winning games despite him playing slowly, is that a problem? Well, time will tell on what BCCI decides for the mega tournament.
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Rajat Patidar, on the other hand, had a remarkable outing as he smashed 50 runs off 20 deliveries. Cameron Green too played a good cameo of 37 runs off 20 balls as RCB posted a healthy score but that didn’t look enough.
However, unlike in the majority of the games, RCB had a good day with the ball. Will Jacks picked up the wicket of Travis Head in the first over of the innings, which derailed SRH’s game plan. Though Abhishek Sharma looked ruthless, like most of his knocks, the youngster couldn’t capitalize. He got out scoring 31 runs off 12 balls, which resulted in a series of dismissals.
Towards the fag end, Pat Cummins put up a show as he hit 31 runs off 15 balls, but it proved to be an impossible hill to climb. Shahbaz made 40* runs, but strike rate was a concern. Meanwhile, despite the win, RCB remain at the bottom of the table while SRH remain third.
1. The debate continues
Star batter Virat Kohli made 32 runs in 18 balls and followed that up with 19 runs off 25 deliveries. That seems to be a big problem as he couldn’t capitalise on his start. He struggled in the middle and needs to act on that immediately to produce better results. There have been already enough discussions on Kohli’s strike rate keeping the T20 World Cup in mind. In case he fails to improve, it will only gain momentum.
2. Patidar and Green’s crucial knocks
If not for Patidar and Green, RCB may have lost the game. Both showed a lot of intent, which played a part in helping RCB put a good total on the board and eventually get the win.
3. Rare W for RCB bowlers
At the halfway mark, it was believed that RCB were at least 20 runs short. However, their bowlers put up a magnificent show and eventually got the job done pretty comfortably. Jacks picked up the dangerous wicket of Head, while Swapnil Singh, Karn Sharma and Green picked up two each to help RCB win their second match of the season.
Losing skipper Pat Cummins said:
Not an ideal night. Few over par with the ball and unfortunately lost a few wickets throughout our innings. We were gonna bat first, it seems to be working for us. Before the last few wins, we were thinking that we were a bowl-first team. Didn't go our way. (Message to the group) I speak after wins, Dan (Vettori) speaks after losses. The boys have been going really well, it's T20 cricket, you are not going to win every game. Don't dwell on this too much. (High risk, high reward approach with the bat) I think it's our strong suit. It's not going to work every game. One or two games where it hasn't gone our way at the start, we still managed to get a good total. Still think this is the way forward for our boys.
Winning skipper Faf du Plessis said:
Last two games, we've shown great signs of fight. SRH game was 270 plus, we got 260. KKR game as well - 1 run. We've been close for a while, but you need to win matches to get confidence as a group. Will sleep easier tonight. You can't speak confidence into the group, can't fake confidence into the group. Only thing that gives confidence is performances. The competition is so strong, the teams are so strong that you'll get hurt if you're not at 100 percent. More guys scoring runs now. First half of the tournament only Virat was scoring runs. Greeny scoring runs now will be massive for him. We know that Chinnaswamy, that's been a big frustration for us. It's a difficult ground to bowl at. We've tried to find a recipe for it, but it's tough.
POTM Rajat Patidar said:
I was just keeping things in my mind that control the controllables. Whenever I go back home, I try to solve every problem which I faced. I go for skilful batting setup. Nothing like that (plan to target spin?). Today I was backing myself to be in good shape against every bowler.
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