Bengaluru: Riding on Shimron Hetmyer (75) and Gurkeerat Singh Mann's (65) swashbuckling innings Royal Challengers Bangalore successfully chased down 176 runs target to beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by four wickets. With this win, they finish their IPL 2019 campaign on a winning note. RCB's win meant Kane Williamson's 43-ball 70 went in vain and SRH's playoff hope suffered a major blow as they now have to depend upon the result of Sunday's KKR vs MI match.
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In response to 176 runs target, RCB got off to a nightmarish start as they were reduced to 20 for 3 in three overs. In the third delivery of the very first over Bhuvneshwar Kumar removed opener, Parthiv Patel, while Khaleel Ahmed sent Virat Kohli packing in the second. In the third over, Bhuvneshwar Kumar stroke again as he sent back AB de Villiers this time.
However, commendable efforts from Hetmyer and Mann changed the complexion of the game. The duo built a record 144 runs partnership to pull RCB out of danger zone and brought them back in the match.
The partnership was finally broken by Rashid Khan when Hetmyer tried to play a lofted shot but was caught at long off by Vijay Shankar. In the very next over, Ahmed sent back in form Mann and Washington Sundar that put RCB's rather easy chase in trouble for a while.
However, it was too late as Colin de Grandhomme and Umesh Yadav ensured them a thrilling win to finish the season with a happy face.
Earlier in the first innings, captain Kane Williamson's late onslaught helped Sunrisers Hyderabad to post a massive175 runs total on board in their final league game of the season.
Williamson, who scored unbeaten 70 off 43 balls, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (7) piled on 28 runs from the penultimate over their innings bowled by Umesh Yadav to give their team an edge over RCB in the match.
Putting into bat first SRH got off to a flying start from Wriddhiman Saha (20) and Martin Guptill (30) who shared a 46-runs partnership between them.
However, fall of wickets in regular intervals slowed down their innings midway.
From 46 for 1 Hyderabad were reduced to 139 for 7 as Washington Sundar and Navdeep Saini wrecked havoc on their middle order.
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While Sundar took three wickets Saini grabbed two.
Later, Captain Kane Williamson and Vijay Shankar, who scored 27, shared 45 runs vital partnership to salvage their shrinking ship.
It eventually helped them set a formidable target for RCB. However, at the end of the match the visitors were outdone by today's hosts of the match.
