Sunrisers Hyderabad 132 for 4 (Williamson 50*, Holder 24*) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 131 for 7 (de Villiers 56, Finch 32, Holder 3-25, Natarajan 2-33) by six wickets
Another year and another disappointment for Virat Kohli and Royal Challengers Bangalore, as Sunrisers Hyderabad eliminates Bangalore from 2020 IPL season with a 6 wicket win in the first eliminator. Sunrisers will play against Delhi Capitals in the second qualifier, the winner will face Mumbai Indians in the 2020 IPL finals on Tuesday, November 10th.
Jason Holder’s all-round performance helped Sunrisers Hyderabad to win the nail biter, the West Indies test captain scored winning boundary in the end and finished the game with unbeaten 24 runs. Earlier Jason dent a big blow to RCB with 4-0-25-3 bowling figure, he dismissed in-form batsman Padikkal and Virat Kohli, who opened the innings along with youngster Padikkal.
Kane Williamson delivers for Hyderabad with a solid unbeaten 50 runs, the Black Caps captain is the right man for chasing tricky targets like 132 against a tougher opponents like RCB, who has a three World Class spin bowlers in their bowling attack.
Man of the match winner Kane Williamson and Jason Holder absorbed all the pressure from the spinners on a turning pitch, saw the asking rate of eight when they came together nudge 10, but finished off the game in calculated manner with two balls to go. This was the Sunrisers’ fourth straight win in a must-win game, and the Royal Challengers Bangalore’s fifth straight loss after an excellent start to their season.
AJ Finch, 32 runs of 30 balls and AB de Villiers 56 runs of 43 balls are only noteworthy contributors with the bat for Royal Challengers Bangalore. Australian Leg Spinner Adam Zampa bowled really well for RCB to put some pressure on Hyderabad in defending small target. Zampa finished his 2020 IPL season with 4-0-12-1 bowling figures.
Post-Match Comments:
Kane Williamson, Man of the Match:
“It was a tough game. It was always gonna be against a class side like RCB. With the quality of their batting, restricting them to 132 said 1) we bowled well, 2) it wasn’t going to be easy. It was a challenge to restrict them. We had time, but with two world class legspinners it was never going to be easy. We had to try and get through their spells and they didn’t give us much at all. It was just nice that we could get through their overs without losing too many wickets. You try and do your role as well as you can. Batting at 4, it can vary a lot, and surface dependent. It was nice to spend time and make a contribution, put some partnerships together. It’s been an interesting last two weeks for us. [Holder] is cooler than me! He’s playing beautifully.”
David Warner, Captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad:
“Last few games have taken a bit out. We had to beat the top three to make it first, and we had to knock out three again. We had to sort of change our strategy around the first six, bowl Sandy and Jase with 5 in the powerplay, hold Natarajan and Rash for the middle overs. We had to work out a formula and it’s going well. Congratulations to Natarajan and his wife, they had a baby this morning. What a gift for the little one. What a masterclass from Kane, he’s done it for years for New Zealand. With the class of batting line up they had, you obviously knew there was something in that wicket with the new ball holding. You had to wait for the ball to be overpitched. The spinners bowled quite slow, fantastic through the middle overs. But end of the day, when you have a guy like Kane at the end [you back him], Bit close for my liking. Delhiis a fantastic team, we’ve spoken about their world class bowling. Shikhar is in form, Shreyas as well who is a linchpin for them.”
Rashid:
“It was tough, it was the same kind of feeling like the game against KXIP. A game which is Eliminator, and that pressure as well. Thank god we won it. Just kept it very simple for myself, just hit a good area. As long as I’m hitting that area, I’m good. I’ve watched my videos and analysed that most of the time I’ve been hit when I bowl full. So I try to bowl the right areas. This wicket sometimes you get a skiddy kind of turn. Today it wasn’t that, it was a bit slow and not skidding as much as the last time we played here. You just have to keep it simple, back of a length. [Dube lbw] I think I got it, but the keeper and the guys from the back didn’t think so. We just need to do the basics right against Delhi and see what happens.”
Kohli, Captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore:
“If you talk about the first innings, I don’t think we had enough on the board already. The position we got ourselves in the second half, probably better execution…a game of margins. We just didn’t have enough runs on the board in my opinion. [The scores in the last few games] Maybe nerves? We just allowed the bowlers to bowl where they wanted to and didn’t put them under pressure. We picked out the fielders a lot. It’s been a strange kind of phase, 4-5 games for us.
Kohli on Overall 2020 season and Standouts from RCB Team :
“A couple of people have stood up and had good seasons. Devdutt, Siraj as well. Yuzi and AB have been solid as ever. Couple of positives. Devdutt has done it with class and efficiency, it’s not easy to get 400 runs. It was a tough year. It tells you the strength of teams in the IPL. You don’t have home and away so when conditions are same for everyone, the real strengths come out and I thik that’s probably why this has been the most competitive IPL. it was amazing to have the opportunity to come out and play. There’s a bigger picture going on here and we all have contributed to that. We’re privileged we got to be part of that and gave something to the fans.”
