KANE & SHAKIB AL LEAD SRH TO 146
Local boy Siraj takes 3 wickets for Royal Challengers Bangalore
Captain Kane Williamson once again led the charge to lead Sunrisers Hyderabad to a modest total against a much disciplined Royal Challengers Bangalore side here on Monday night. The Kiwi cracked 56, his fourth half- century of the season, as the hosts were all out for 146 in stop- start fashion. His side having lost three early wickets, Williamson played sensibly to put up a steady partnership of 64 for the fourth wicket with Shakib al Hasan to shore up the innings. In between, he blasted the ball about for five boundaries and two sixes in another valuable knock that ended as he tried to force the pace and skied a catch to Mandeep Singh at fine leg off Umesh Yadav. Shakib played perfect second fiddle with a 32- ball 35 that contained five hits to the fence.
Put in to bat, the hosts began badly as pacer Tim Southee rattled timber in the third over of the innings — Alex Hales was all at sea to a delive r y t h a t crashed into his stumps and sent the bails flying.
Shikhar Dhawan and Williamson batted on for a while before Southee got involved in the fall of the second wicket as well. Dhawan tried to launch local lad Mohammed Siraj into the stands but got only as far as the New Zealander at deep square leg as the Sunrisers slipped to a poor 38/ 2 at the end of the Powerplay period.
Smart captaincy by Virat Kohli got RCB their third man. Kohli positioned himself at short cover as legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal floated in a delivery that Manish Pandey prodded tamely into the RCB captain’s hands.
Shakib hit off- spinner Moeen Ali for a couple of boundaries in the 10th over to lift the hosts to 61/ 3 at the halfway stage. But they needed the big hits... badly. Some tidy bowling and sharp fielding by the visitors were a hindrance though. Siraj was exceptional in this phase, sending a splendid 13th over in which he conceded just three singles and a wide as Williamson and Shakib struggled to get around him.
A fine glance by Williamson off Umesh Yadav that raced to the boundary, followed by a brace and a swat that crashed into the seats behind fine leg for the first six of the innings saw the Sun brightening up in the 14th over.