Kohli and Patidar in good nick as Royal Challengers post 206
The former, in the company of skipper du Plessis, gets going in the PowerPlay while making a half-century; the latter hits top gear right from the start, smashes a 20-ball 50 with two fours and ‚ve sixes; Green provides the ‚nal push
ajat Patidar’s brilliance at the top of the order, an unusally slow half-century by Virat Kohli and a cameo in the nal overs by Cameron Green helped Royal Challengers score a challenging 206 for seven against Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL league match at the Rajiv Gandhi Stadium here on Thursday.
RStrangely, after the PowerPlay, Kohli struggled to get going after all his boundaries came within the rst six overs.
Four sixes in an over
However, Patidar compensated for that by scoring a 20-ball half-century, smashing leg-spinner Mayank Markande for four sixes in the 11th over of the innings.
Just when he threatened to make a big score, Patidar clipped left-arm seamer Jaydev Unadkat straight to deep square-leg.
R. RAGU
Soon, Kohli perished in an attempt to boost the scoring rate, pulling Unadkat to the elder in the deep.
Unadkat and left-arm spinner Shahbaz Ahmed proved equal to the task, keeping a check on the scoring rate in the crucial middle overs, bowling to the eld and giving little freedom for the batters to swing their arms.
The experienced Unadkat, with a three-wicket haul, was the pick of the bowlers.
Sunrisers employed seven bowlers in the innings and, surprisingly, it was captain Pat Cummins who was the most expensive (40-55-1) though he picked up the wicket of Dinesh Karthik in the 19th over. RCB hammered 64 in the last ve overs.
Positive start
Earlier, after electing to bat, the visitors were o to a ying start as Kohli and skipper Faf du Plessis hit 48 in 3.5 overs before the latter mistimed an attempted shot over cover o leftarm pacer T. Natarajan and
ROYAL CHALLENGERS
Virat Kohli c Samad b Unadkat 51 (43b, 4x4, 1x6), Faf du Plessis c Markram b Natarajan 25 (12b,
Will Jacks b Markande 6 Rajat Patidar c Samad b Unadkat 50 (20b, 2x4, 5x6),
Cameron Green (not out) 37 (20b,
Mahipal Lomror c Cummins b Unadkat 7 (4b, 1x4), Dinesh Karthik c Samad b Cummins 11 (6b, 2x4), Swapnil Singh (Impact Player in place of Patidar) c Abhishek b Natarajan 12 (6b, 1x4, 1x6); Extras (lb-2, w-5): 7; Total (for seven wkts. in 20 overs): 206.
FALL OF WICKETS
SUNRISERS BOWLING Abhishek 1-0-10-0, Bhuvneshwar 1-0-14-0, Cummins 4-0-55-1, Natarajan 4-0-39-2, Shahbaz 3-0-14-0, Markande 3-0-42-1, Unadkat 4-0-30-3.
Toss: RCB.
SRH was 132 for seven in 15 overs with Shahbaz (21) and Bhuvneshwar (5) batting. Head (1), Abhishek (31), Markram (7), Nitish (13), Klaasen (7), Samad (10) and Cummins (31) were out was caught at mid-o.
Royal Challengers scored 61 in the PowerPlay — the hosts used ve bowlers in the rst six overs — as Kohli looked in ominous touch.
He greeted Cummins with two exquisite strokes and later lofted Natarajan over long-on, laying the foundation for the Bengaluru side’s acceleration.