IPL 2020: Twiterrati troll RCB as they crash out of tournament after 6-wicket loss to SRH
Kane Williamson’s second IPL 2020 fifty and an all-round performance from Jason Holder helped the Sunrisers Hyderabad progress to the IPL 2020 Qualifier 2. The Orange Army beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore by 6 wickets in the Eliminator at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi on Friday.
The win pits SRH against the Delhi Capitals on Sunday (November 8), while RCB’s wait to win their maiden IPL trophy continues.
After David Warner won the toss and opted to field first, Virat Kohli’s (6 off 7) decision to open the innings didn’t come good as Jason Holder snapped up the RCB captain in just the 2nd over. SRH were off to the exact start they would have liked as Holder accounted for Devdutt Padikkal (1 off 6) in his next over to leave RCB in dire straits at 15 for 2.
Aaron Finch – who batted at No. 3 – and AB de Villiers then steadied the ship as the Bangalore-based franchise reached 32 for 2 at the end of the mandatory field restrictions. But just when both of them seemed to have to come to terms with the pace of the wicket, Finch (32 off 30) fell to Shahbaz Nadeem after a 41-run third-wicket stand.
One brought two as Moeen Ali – playing his 3rd IPL 2020 match – ran himself out on a free hit as RCB were staring down the barrel on 62 for 4 in the 11th over. After that, it was just one-way traffic as AB de Villiers held fort at one end only to lose partners at the other.
No other RCB batsman crossed 10 runs as De Villiers fought a lone battle in a bid to help RCB post a competitive total on the board. Even though ABD smashed his 5th IPL 2020 fifty – 56 off 43 balls – the pace trio of Sandeep Sharma (0 for 21), Jason Holder (3 for 25) and T Natarajan (2 for 33) were excellent at the death and restricted RCB to a meagre 131 for 7.
In reply, Mohammed Siraj gave RCB a dream start by dismissing Shreevats Goswami (0 off 3) with just his 4th ball. But David Warner and Manish Pandey breathed life into the run-chase with a 41-run second-wicket stand before Warner (17 off 17) controversially fell to Siraj in the 6th over.
The leg-spin duo of Yuzvendra Chahal (1 for 24) and Adam Zampa (1 for 12) then pulled the strings in the middle overs as SRH suddenly found themselves far from the finish line. While Zampa accounted for the well-set Manish Pandey (24 off 21), Chahal sent back Priyam Garg (7 off 14) to leave SRH on 67 for 4 in the 12th over.
But Kane Williamson (50 not out off 44) and Jason Holder (24 not out off 20) held their nerve and put on 65 runs for the fifth wicket to help SRH reach the target with 2 balls to spare, and in turn, knock RCB out of IPL 2020.
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