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Epic hitting as Sunrisers beat Royal Challengers

cricket15 April 2024 19:00
By:David Knowles
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Travis Head © Sportzpics

In a match which saw the most runs ever scored in a T20 match, the Sunrisers Hyderabad pulled off a 25-run win against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, in match 30 of the Tata IPL on Monday, handing the hosts their fifth successive defeat.

Set a mammoth 288 for victory at 14.35 to the over after the Sunrisers had smashed 287 for three, the highest score in IPL history and the highest score in franchise league T20 cricket, RCB made a good fight of things, ending on an admirable 262 for seven, a total of 529 runs scored in 40 overs.

RCB openers Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli had to play shots from ball one and they set about their task with purpose, equalling the highest ever six-over powerplay score reached by their team of 79 for no loss, four runs ahead of the Sunrisers at the same stage.

After Kohli had departed for 42 from 20 balls in an opening stand of 80 in 6.2 overs, RCB lost six wickets for 108 as their chase started to falter. Du Plessis reached his 67th career T20 fifty from 23 balls but fell for 62 from 28 balls (7x4, 4x6) just as he looked to dominate.

At 122 for five, it looked dismal for the Challengers but Dinesh Karthik had other ideas. He compiled a brilliant 83 from 35 balls (5x4, 7x6), sharing a sixth-wicket partnership of 59 from 25 balls with Mahipal Lomror (19) and 63 from 28 balls for the seventh wicket with Anuj Rawat who contributed eight on his way to ending undefeated with 25 from 14 balls.

In the end, it wasn't good enough as 44 was needed off the final over.

Considering how many runs were scored, Sunrisers captain Pat Cummins was excellent with the ball in claiming 3-43 in his four overs, supported by Mayank Markande (2-46) in four and Thangarasu Natarajan (1-47) in his four-over spell.

Asked to bat, the Sunrisers belted the RCB bowlers to all parts of the stadium, led by opener Travis Head who bludgeoned a brilliant 102 from 41 balls (9x4, 8x6), reaching the milestone in 39 balls, the fourth fastest century in IPL history and the fastest by a Sunrisers player.

With fellow opener Abhishek Sharma (34), the platform was set with 108 in 8.1 overs for the first wicket, including 75/0 in the powerplay.

Promoted to bat at three, the in-form Heinrich Klaasen continued the destruction, hitting 67 from 31 balls (2x4, 7x6), adding 57 from 26 balls for the second wicket with Head and 66 from 27 balls for the third wicket with Aiden Markram who was 32 not out from 17 balls at the end.

With Abdul Samad (37 not out from 10 balls), Markram added an unbroken 56 from 19 balls for the fourth wicket.

No Sunrisers batsmen made under 30 as the six bowlers used by RCB were shown scant respect. Every bowler went for more than 10 runs to the over, the wicket-takers being Lockie Ferguson (2-52) in four overs and Reece Topley (1-68 in his four overs.

Cummins acknowledged an unbelievable game and was happy to keep the momentum going with a third successive win, while Du Plessis, although disappointed, was encouraged at his team's approach to chasing down the big total, their score of 262 good enough to win a match on most other days.

Head was named Man of the Match.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru XI: Faf du Plessis(c), Virat Kohli, Will Jacks, Rajat Patidar, Saurav Chauhan, Dinesh Karthik(w), Mahipal Lomror, Reece Topley, Lockie Ferguson, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Yash Dayal.

Impact options: Suyash Prabhudessai, Anuj Rawat, Swapnil Singh, Mohammed Siraj, Karn Sharma

Sunrisers Hyderabad XI: Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen(wk), Abdul Samad, Nitesh Reddy, Shahbaz Ahmed, Pat Cummins(c), Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jaydev Unadkat, Thangarasu Natarajan.

Impact options: Umran Malik, Anmolpreet Singh, Mayank Markande, Glenn Phillips, Rahul Tripathi

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