IPL 2024: Royal Challengers Bengaluru defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 35 runs at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium to finally return to winning ways after a protracted absence.
They may have gained an advantage against SRH because of their astute decision to bat first after winning the toss. While the other batters contributed to RCB’s 206 runs scored in the first inning, Virat Kohli provided a strong start for the visiting squad.
On social media, Virat Kohli has been the target of criticism in the meantime. While some valued his role as an anchor, many others critiqued his strike rate and said it would be problematic if he continued it in the next T20 World Cup. Is it an issue, though, if his team is winning games even though he is playing slowly? We’ll have to wait and see what the BCCI chooses for the major competition.
By contrast, Rajat Patidar’s inning of 50 runs off of 20 deliveries was a spectacular one. While RCB scored a respectable total, Cameron Green also had a strong cameo, scoring 37 runs off of just 20 balls, but it didn’t seem like enough.
RCB had a successful day with the ball, nevertheless, in contrast to most of the games. The SRH strategy was ruined when Will Jacks took Travis Head’s wicket in the opening over of the innings. The young person was unable to capitalise, even though Abhishek Sharma appeared vicious, as he always does in his knocks. He was dismissed after getting out after scoring 31 runs off of 12 balls.
Even though Pat Cummins put on a display at the conclusion of the inning, hitting 31 runs off of 15 balls, it was too little, too late. Shahbaz scored 40 runs, although his strike rate raised some questions. Even with the victory, SRH is still in third place, while RCB is still at the bottom of the standings.
1. The discussion is ongoing.
In addition to scoring 19 runs off of 25 deliveries, star batsman Virat Kohli scored 32 runs in 18 balls. The fact that he was unable to build on his early success appears to be a major issue. He needs to take urgent action on his struggles in the middle to improve the outcome. With the T20 World Cup in mind, there have already been enough conversations about Kohli’s strike rate. It will only pick up steam if he doesn’t get well.
2. The pivotal hits from Patidar and Green
RCB might have lost the match if it weren’t for Patidar and Green. Both parties demonstrated a lot of intent, which helped RCB score well and win in the end.
3. Rare victory for the RCB bowlers
Around 20 runs were thought to be missing for RCB around the midway point. Still, their bowlers gave a fantastic display and eventually completed the task with relative ease. In order to help RCB win their second game of the season, Jacks claimed the crucial wicket of Head, while Karn Sharma, Green, and Swapnil Singh each claimed two wickets.
Also read: IPL 2024: Sunrisers Hyderabad 2nd innings highlights against RCB in Match 41
Losing skipper Pat Cummins said:
Not an ideal night. Few over par with the ball and unfortunately lost a few wickets throughout our innings. We were gonna bat first, it seems to be working for us. Before the last few wins, we were thinking that we were a bowl-first team. Didn’t go our way. (Message to the group) I speak after wins, Dan (Vettori) speaks after losses. The boys have been going really well, it’s T20 cricket, you are not going to win every game.
Don’t dwell on this too much. (High risk, high reward approach with the bat) I think it’s our strong suit. It’s not going to work every game. One or two games where it hasn’t gone our way at the start, we still managed to get a good total. Still think this is the way forward for our boys.
Winning skipper Faf du Plessis said:
Last two games, we’ve shown great signs of fight. SRH game was 270 plus, we got 260. KKR game as well – 1 run. We’ve been close for a while, but you need to win matches to get confidence as a group. Will sleep easier tonight. You can’t speak confidence into the group, can’t fake confidence into the group. Only thing that gives confidence is performances.
The competition is so strong, the teams are so strong that you’ll get hurt if you’re not at 100 percent. More guys scoring runs now. First half of the tournament only Virat was scoring runs. Greeny scoring runs now will be massive for him. We know that Chinnaswamy, that’s been a big frustration for us. It’s a difficult ground to bowl at. We’ve tried to find a recipe for it, but it’s tough.
POTM Rajat Patidar said:
I was just keeping things in my mind that control the controllables. Whenever I go back home, I try to solve every problem which I faced. I go for skilful batting setup. Nothing like that (plan to target spin?). Today I was backing myself to be in good shape against every bowler.
India
