IPL 2018, SRH vs RCB: Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers getting out in six balls is SK Turning Point of the match
The Sunrisers Hyderabad displayed the strength of their brilliant bowling attack once again on Monday (May 7), as they defended a total of just 146 against the Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium.
It was a terrific effort with the ball once again by the Men in Orange, as they suffocated the famed RCB batting line-up and tamed them in the 20 overs to clinch the victory by five runs.
Virat Kohli won the toss and decided to bowl first, doing well in the first innings to restrict the hosts to a subpar total and scalping ten wickets in the process.
However, the tides turned in the second innings, as they so often do in when Hyderabad take the field to defend a total. RCB started relatively well, though, putting up 60 runs and losing just one wicket in the first seven overs.
Kohli looked steady and strong on the crease, gearing up for yet another successful chase under his name. However, it was not to be.
The RCB skipper was dismissed in the 10th over of the game, with the score at 74 for the loss of three wickets. It was still Bangalore's game to lose, with AB de Villiers on the crease and the target still in their grasp. However, the chase turned on its head when the South African batsman was sent back to the pavilion just six deliveries later.
The two mainstays of the RCB batting line-up falling in quick succession was the SK Turning Point of the match. Both the right-handers fell against spin, with Kohli being dismissed by Shakib Al Hasan and AB de Villiers getting bowled by Rashid Khan.
The visitors could never really recover after that. Mandeep Singh and Colin de Grandhomme tried to steady the ship and took the game to the last over, but the precision of the SRH seamers proved to be too much for their combined hitting prowess.
Sunrisers Hyderabad look like the team to beat this season. While their batting has been off-color from time to time, their bowlers have turned up in almost every game of the tournament.
This is the fourth time they have defended a total below 160 this year, and the credit for that incredible achievement goes to the brilliant planning from their captain and the perfect execution of those plans from their bowlers.
They sit pretty at the top of the points table with 8 wins in 10 games and are as good as qualified for the playoffs.
RCB, on the other hand, look set for yet another bottom four finish this year. They are ranked sixth on the table and have fallen to as many as seven losses in ten games.
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