IPL 2020 Eliminator: Holder, Natarajan rip through RCB to restrict them to 131 for 7

Jason Holder picked up two early wickets to leave RCB at 15 for 2 within four overs. RCB never could recover from this double whammy and end up posting a dismal 131 for 7, thanks to AB de Villiers' half-century.

Abu Dhabi: Sunrisers Hyderabad captain David Warner's decision to bowl first at a green surface here at Sheikh Zayed Stadium in the Eliminator of 2020 IPL proved right as Jason Holder and T Natarajan have restricted Royal Challengers Bangalore to 131 for 7 at the end of stipulated 20 overs.

Being put in to bat, RCB suffered a big blow at the very onset of their innings with pace bowler Holder left them at 15 for 2 within four overs.

Surprising everyone skipper Virat Kohli came to open the batting for RCB today, but his decision proved otherwise. Holder's down the leg-side delivery took an edge of his gloves which was beautifully caught by diving wicketkeeper Shreevats Goswami, who replaced injured Wriddhiman Saha in SRH team. When Kohli fell prey to Holder's skidding delivery in the second ball of the second over, RCB's score was 7 for 1.

Aaron Finch (32 off 30) shared 41-run second wicket partnership with AB de Villiers.

In his fourth over, the lanky West Indian struck again to leave RCB at 15 for 2 as he had Devdutt Padikkal caught by Priyam Garg at the mid-wicket. Padikkal was struggling to connect the ball and pressure was palpable in his batting. He succumbed to it immediately.

With both of the openers in the dugout, Aaron Finch, coming at one drop, played 30 balls 32 runs knock and shared an important 41-run second-wicket partnership with AB de Villiers (56 off 43) in a bid to rebuild RCB's already ruined innings.

However, their resistance didn't last long with spinner Shahbaz Nadeem had Finch caught by Abdul Samad as the later tried to play the former through the sweeper cover in the second ball of the 11th over. In a span of two balls, RCB lost another important wicket as Moeen Ali was run out for a duck by an acrobatic fielding produced by Rashid Khan.

Thereafter RCB's lower order fell like a pack of cards. de Villiers, who hit five boundaries, was castled by T Natarajan in the 18th over. With his dismissal's RCB's last line of defence was broken.

AB de Villiers scored 56 runs off 43 balls.

Shivam Dube followed the suit soon as Holder struck for the third time in the match to finish his four overs with a superb figure of three wickets for 25 runs.

Other than de Villiers and Finch no other RCB batsman could score double-figure today.

SRH need 132 to win the match and set up their Qualifier 2 clash with Delhi Capitals, who lost to Mumbai Indians in the Qualifier 1 by 57 runs on Thursday.