Our correspondent
Sunrisers Hyderabad suffered a 10-run defeat to Royal Challengers Bangalore in their first Indian Premier League match on September 21 at the Dubai Cricket Stadium.
Chasing 164, Sunrisers – who won the toss and decided to bowl – looked comfortable with Jonny Bairstow in superb form and batting on 61 (6 fours and 2 sixes) after the initial setback of losing opener David Warner (6) to a second-over run-out. Sunrisers looked all set with 121-2 in the 16th over but when Bairstow decided to attack a delivery from Yuzvendra Chahal (3-18), he became the first of eight wickets lost in 26 balls.
Vijay Shankar fell for a duck from the next delivery while the wickets of Priyam Garg (12) , Abhishek Sharma (7) and Rashid Khan (6) fell quickly soon after. An injured Mitchell Marsh demoted down the batting line-up led to the collapse of the lower order and RCB romped home in the IPL opener. RCB’s win was achieved in the final over when Sandeep Sharma (9) was caught in the deep by skipper Virat Kohli off Dale Steyn (1-33).
Devdutt Padikkal (56) and AB de Villiers (51) helped RCB shore up 163-5 in their 20 overs.
RCB’s maiden victory in IPL 2020 could signify that their jinx in the IPL is over and that they can hope for the title for the first time.
