In the 41st match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 35 runs at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
RCB won the toss and elected to bat first. The innings began in a rocking mode for the away team as both openers, Virat Kohli (51) and Faf du Plessis (25), smashed 48 runs for the first wicket partnership in just 23 balls. Post powerplay, Kohli slowed down and was more focused on exchanging strikes. A major reason for the same was Rajat Patidar‘s (50) excellent show with the bat. Patidar hammered a 19-ball fifty, which included five massive sixes and two fours as well. Cameron Green (37*) also added valuable and much-needed runs towards the end of the inning, which helped the unit reach 206/7 in 20 overs. Dinesh Karthik (11) and Swapnil Singh (12) also had handy roles to play tonight.
In the chase, Abhishek Sharma (31) was the only batter to give SRH a brilliant start. However, from the other end, in-form batter Travis Head got out cheaply. The home team lost four wickets in the powerplay and post that Shahbaz Ahmed (40*) was the only batter to gather some runs. The likes of Pat Cummins (31), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (13) and Abdul Samad (10) also tried their luck but it wasn’t meant to happen for them tonight.
While defending, the visiting team used seven bowlers, and almost everyone was economical. The likes of Green, Swapnil and Karn Sharma got two wickets each while Will Jacks and Yash Dayal also secured a wicket each. Mohammed Siraj also bowled four overs and just gave away 20 runs, including the penultimate over.
Jaydev Unadkat was the go-to man for SRH with the ball, as he plucked three wickets. T Natarajan also took two wickets while one wicket each was taken by Cummins and Mayank Markande.
Rajat Patidar was adjudged Player of the Match for his electrifying batting performance. With this win, RCB have secured their second win of the season and are still at the bottom of the points table.
Scorecard:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 206/7, Overs 20, Virat Kohli 51, Jaydev Unadkat 3/30
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 171/8, Overs 20, Shahbaz Ahmed 40*, Cameron Green 2/12