Dubai: Royal Challengers Bangalore made a mess of their run chase as bottom-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad dented their hopes of a top-two finish with a narrow four-run win in a last-over IPL thriller in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.AB de Villiers smashed a six in the fourth ball of the final over bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar but couldn’t take the team home as the South African could not pull off a six the team needed in the last ball.
Earlier, opener Jason Roy (44) shared a 58-ball 70 run stand with skipper Kane Williamson (31) to set the platform but SRH lost three quick wickets for two runs in seven balls to eventually end up with a below-par total.
RCB were dealt an early blow in their chase when Bhuvneshwar trapped Virat Kohli in the first over.
The decision to promote Daniel Christian at number 3 also didn’t work as he was deceived by a slower delivery by Siddarth Kaul.
Virat Kohli, RCB captain, said, ‘I don’t think so, the intent has to be to try and get it done as soon as possible. We don’t want to stretch these games too deep, but having lost a couple of early wickets, rebuilding was key. Maxi’s [Maxwell] run-out was the game-changing moment in terms of momentum and Maxi was in the zone to get a couple of big overs. With AB [de Villiers] you are never out of the game, but it is about making sure that the guy who’s in flow is on strike in the crucial moments. We had a good first half with the ball but not as effective with the bat chasing that down. Shahbaz [Ahmed] played a crucial knock at that stage, it is a game of small margins, I think Sunrisers held their nerve and bowled out their last few deliveries pretty well to not allow us to get us those big hits we were looking for. He’s bowling pretty well now, looks like he’s worked on his bowling after all the time off and is back to the bowling way we know he can. Him bowling well has always been a good sign for the team. He’s been magnificent with the ball [on Yuzvendra Chahal’s resurgence]. This tournament throws up talent every year, good to see a guy bowling at 150 clicks [on Umran Malik]. It is important to understand the progress of individuals from hereon. The pool of fast bowlers being strong is always a good sign for Indian cricket and whenever you see talent like this, you are going to have your eyes on them and make sure you maximise their potential which is already being seen at the IPL level. We have been very professional as a team to handle both losses and victories, we haven’t been over the top or too low with losses. A little hiccup in the journey but we carry on with the same momentum.’
Kane Williamson, SRH skipper and Player of the Match, said, ‘ It’s been a tough season and it’s great to see some of those small improvements. To see those small adjustments was good, we thought that total was competitive and we saw that fight throughout the ball as well. I was just trying to maximize the powerplay and the ball was holding on the surface and we were fortunate to build a partnership and we knew things wouldn’t happen quickly from a bowling perspective, but we knew if we held our nerve and stay there for longer periods, we can build that pressure. Game was getting tight and dismissing him (Maxwell) one way or the other was the key, they are a fantastic side and even though we are not in contention it was great to see the fight. He certainly is special (on Umran Malik). We saw him in the nets in the last couple of seasons and he is a real competitor and is proving to be effective even on slower surfaces. He’s got a lot of mates in the team as well and that helps in sharing the knowledge. It’s a great opportunity for the younger guys to get involved and hopefully we will keep learning and we go again on Friday. Lot of last over finishes and we keep trying and applying ourselves and the surfaces haven’t allowed for any rhythm and it’s good to see the win tonight.’