IPL 2019: 3 Close encounters between SRH and RCB at Hyderabad
All eyes will turn towards Hyderabad as 2016 champions Sunrisers Hyderabad meet runners-up from the same year, Royal Challengers Bangalore, at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on March 31 in IPL 2019.
Coming off a defeat against KKR in Kolkata, the hosts turned things around at home, as they beat Rajasthan Royals by five wickets.
The visitors, on the other hand, have suffered two consecutive defeats. While SRH will look to continue their winning momentum, RCB will be desperate to script a turnaround.
Though the pitch at Hyderabad is traditionally a low-scoring one, the RR-SRH match saw 400 runs being scored, setting the stage for a mouth-watering clash between the two South Indian teams.
Over the years, the venue has produced some of the best showdowns between the two sides. Here is a look at three close encounters between SRH and RCB at Hyderabad.
#3 SRH beat RCB by 5 runs (Match 39 – 2018)
The Royal Challengers Bangalore were coming into this match with a sword on their necks. They desperately required a win to solidify their position in the table and gun for a top 4 finish.
For a major part of the match, it seemed the visitors would pull off a win and stay alive in their IPL 2018 campaign. On yet another sluggish Hyderabad pitch, the hosts were finding it extremely tough to maintain a healthy run rate as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
In the end, it was skipper Kane Williamson, who yet again rescued the Sunrisers with his calculated knock of 56 (39), and propelled the side to a sub-par total.
For the visitors, the pace duo of Southee and Siraj displayed their variations and scalped three wickets apiece to give their batsman a relatively easy target of 147.
RCB got off to a wonderful start as they raced away to 55 in the powerplay, but on a slow pitch, the introduction of spin turned the tide in Hyderabad’s favour. The spin twins Shakib Al Hassan and Rashid Khan dealt deadly blows to the visitors as they dismissed their star batsmen Virat Kohli and AB De Villiers in consecutive overs.
A late flourish from Colin de Grandhomme brought the equation down to an easy 25 off three overs, but the Sunrisers’ death bowling came to the party. Toe-crushing yorkers from Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Siddharth Kaul choked the visitors, who should have easily sealed the game.
Defending 11 in the last over, Kumar showed his mastery at the death as he gave away just six, thus handing his side a nail-biting victory by five runs.
Brief Score: SRH 146 (Williamson 56, Siraj 3/25, Southee 3/30) beat RCB 141/6 (Kohli 39, Shakib 2/36)
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