Mumbai: Faf du Plessis anchored the innings with an unbeaten 73 while Dinesh Karthik provided a grandstand finish with a sensational eight-ball 30 and leg-spinner Wanindu Hasaranga scalped 5/18 as Royal Challengers Bangalore thrashed Sunrisers Hyderabad by 67 runs at the Wankhede Stadium here on Sunday.
After du Plessis and Karthik, contributions from Rajat Patidar and Glenn Maxwell, took Bangalore to a daunting 192/3. Hyderabad's batting order wilted under scoreboard pressure, crashing to 125 all out in 19.2 overs. Barring Rahul Tripathi's incredible 58 and some big hits from Aiden Markram and Nicholas Pooran, Hyderabad were comprehensively outclassed by Bangalore in their fourth straight defeat of the tournament.
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Bangalore's innings had an inauspicious start as Virat Kohli flicked a full ball straight to short mid-wicket off left-arm spinner Jagadeesha Suchith. It was also Kohli's second golden duck against Hyderabad and third of this season. du Plessis and Patidar took care of scoring in power-play after Kohli's fall with boundaries coming consistently. The duo took a liking to extra pace of left-arm seamer Kartik Tyagi, hitting him for two fours and a six in the final over of power-play. Patidar was the main aggressor, smacking Suchith for a six over long-off and stood tall to punch Umran Malik through extra cover for four.
Du Plessis caught up with Patidar, hammering Malik through mid-off for four and earning a reprieve on the very next ball when Rahul Tripathi couldn't catch his pull and conceded a boundary. He ended the over with a pulled six over long-on to take 20 off Malik's first over.
With Tyagi and Malik going for plenty in their opening over, Hyderabad had to turn to sixth bowling option in Abhishek Sharma's left-arm spin. But that didn't stop du Plessis and Patidar from bringing the century of the partnership apart from the Bangalore skipper reaching his fifty with a four through extra cover off Tyagi.
The 105-run off 73 balls between Patidar and du Plessis ended when Suchith forced the former to hole out to deep mid-wicket. But there was no respite for Hyderabad as Maxwell began with bang, bringing out the switch hit to whack Suchith for a huge six over cover. Maxwell and du Plessis constantly found boundaries in their stand of 54 off 37 balls before Tyagi took out the former in the 19th over.
But Karthik spoiled Tyagi's final over with a six slogged over deep mid-wicket. He then proceeded to bring his A-game in finishing the innings by smacking debutant Fazalhaq Farooqui for three sixes - over deep mid-wicket (dropped by Tripathi), long-on and again, deep mid-wicket before thumping a four straight through long-on to give Hyderabad a daunting target of 193.
Hyderabad's chase began on an unfortunate note, losing their opening pair of Sharma and Kane Williamson for nought in the span of first five balls. While Williamson was run-out by a direct hit from Shahbaz Ahmed with his bat on the line, Sharma was castled by a slider from Maxwell, rattling his off-stump.
Markram and Tripathi joined forces for a fifty-run partnership off 45 balls, hitting six boundaries between themselves before the former holed out to deep mid-wicket off Hasaranga. Tripathi continued to snatch fours with some glorious shots and found company in Pooran smashing some boundaries. But Hasaranga came back to break the 38-run promising stand, taking out Pooran with a googly, taking an outer edge on an attempted slog to third man.
Tripathi brought up his fifty in style with a superb inside-out lofted six over extra cover off Mohammed Siraj and earned a reprieve when Hasaranga put down a sitter at deep backward point. But the leg-spinner came back to have Jagadeesha Suchith stumped and when Tripathi pulled straight to deep square leg off Josh Hazlewood, the result was a foregone conclusion. Hazlewood, Hasaranga and Harshal Patel took out the remaining batters to register a thumping win for Bangalore.
Brief Scores:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 192/3 in 20 overs (Faf du Plessis 73 not out, Rajat Patidar 48, Dinesh Karthik 30 not out; J Suchith 2/30).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 125 all out in 19.2 overs (Rahul Tripathi 58; Wanindu Hasaranga 5/18).
