Yuzvendra Chahal lived true to his promise of doing everything for his side to win as the Royal Challengers Bangalore spinner served a match-winning spell of 3 wickets for 18 to bundle out Sunrisers Hyderabad for 153 while chasing 164 at the Dubai International on Monday.
However the day also belonged to RCB’s Devdutt Paddikal who turned out to be the find of the season after he smashed a 42-ball 56 runs in the first innings to give a solid start to his side on debut. Batting on a tricky surface, which provided uneven bounce, the 20-year-old did most of talking in the 90-run opening stand that lasted exactly 11 overs.
This was also followed by a quickfire 51 runs off 30 balls by AB de Villiers who achieved the mean feat of hitting his 200th career six for the RCB as the side managed 163/5.
Chasing the target, SRH were off to an inauspicious start as SRH skipper David Warner (6 off 6) had no luck on his side as a hard-hit drive by Bairstow saw hit pacer Umesh Yadav’s hand before hitting the non-striker stumps with Warner inches off the crease. The Hyderabad outfit had just 18 runs in their kitty with two overs gone.
However, newly-in Manish Pandey didn’t let the momentum shift as the Indian middle-order batsman kept the scoreboard ticking along with Bairstow. The duo went hard on Umesh Yadav, who coughed up (48 runs in his four overs quota) and didn’t spare Dale Steyn as well who conceded 28 runs in his first three overs.
However, some tight bowling by Navdeep Saini and introduction of Yuzvendra Chahal (who picked three wickets for mere 18 runs) from the other end meant the runs didn’t come as fast as they wanted with 71 runs in 10 overs.
This eventually forced Bairstow and Pandey to take risks with the latter, in an attempted big hit off Chahal over long off, could only find the safe hands on Saini in the deep.
The Englishman on the other end kept the scoreboard ticking with over 32 runs in the next three overs with under-19 star Priyam Garg.
But with re-introduction of Chahal and the pressure of rising required run rate, saw Bairstow’s stump dislodged, leaving the 32-year-old England international unhappy with his shot choice.
This only opened the can of worms for SRH, who lost further four wickets within next 20 runs and were left reeling at 141/7 in no time. Vijay Kumar (0 off1) departed right after Bairstow in a similar wild swing with 121 runs on board. Eight runs later, Garg was next to go as his poor scoop shot attempt went right into the stumps.
SRH still had hopes of achieving 35 runs in 21 balls with Rashid Khan and Abhishek Verma in the middle. But a poor running between the wicket, which saw the duo collide in the middle of the pitch, forced Abhiskek (7 off 4) to walk back to the dug out.
In the next over, Saini made things further worse for SRH as he cleaned bowled Bhuvneswar Kumar (0 off 2) then Rashid (6 off 5) in space of three deliveries.
Marsh, who earlier injured his ankle, was next to follow for nought as his attempt to clear the fence off Shivam Dube could only find RCB skipper on long on.
Dale Steyn wrapped up the proceedings in the final over by removing Sandeep Sharma as SRH were bundled out for 153.
