Seventh time lucky

PTI

Hyderabad, April 25

Rajat Patidar’s explosive fifty and a collective effort from the spinners set up Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s 35-run win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL, bringing an end to their six-match losing streak.

Brief scores

• RCB: 206/7 in 20 overs (Kohli 51, Patidar 50; Unadkat 3/30) vs
• SRH: 171/8 in 20 overs (Abhishek 31, Cummins 31; Karn 2/29)

Wednesday’s result

• DC: 224/4 in 20 overs (Pant 88*, Axar 66; Warrier 3/15) vs GT: 220/8 in 20 overs (Sudharsan 65, Miller 55; Rasikh 3/44)

Patidar’s 50 off 20 balls stood in stark contrast to Virat Kohli’s measured 51 off 43 balls as RCB put up 206/7 after opting to bat.

For a team that has breached the 250-run mark thrice this season, the target was very gettable but the in-form SRH batting line-up could not deliver on this occasion and ended at 171/8 in 20 overs.

Considering the effectiveness of the spinners in the first innings, RCB opened the bowling with part-time off-spinner Will Jacks. The Englishman had the destructive Travis Head (1 off 3) caught at third man to give RCB a massive boost.

Head’s opening partner Abhishek Sharma (31 off 13) did entertain the home crowd until his attempted slog ended up in the hands of wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik.

Left-arm spinner Swapnil Singh, making his RCB debut, struck twice in his first over, removing the dangerous South African duo of Aiden Markram and Henrich Klaasen.

Leggie Karn Sharma then dismissed Nitish Reddy and Abdul Samad to shut the door on the opposition.

Earlier, Patidar did the bulk of the work in his 65-run stand with Kohli, who was focused on giving the strike to his partner, an approach which was questioned by Sunil Gavaskar on air.

Cameron Green (37 not out off 20) and Swapnil (12 off 6) came up with timely strikes in the death overs to take RCB past 200.

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