SRH collapse help RCB grind out another last-over victory in Chennai

For the second night in a row, we have seen a collapse of epic proportions at the Chepauk. It felt like Déjà vu, as if we were watching the same match from yesterday on repeat. Just like Kolkata Knight Riders, the Sunrisers Hyderabad were cruising in their chase of 149 until disaster struck. Needing 35 runs 24 balls, Virat Kohli tossed the ball to the left-arm spinner, Shahbaz Ahmed – with two right-handers on strike – who completely changed the momentum of the game.

Ahmed picked up three vital wickets and conceded only one run as Jonny Bairstow, Manish Pandey and Abdul Samad all committed the cardinal sin of playing a cross-batted shot on a spinning pitch and all three of them ended up top-edging their shot and walking back to the pavilion.

From then on, RCB were in the driver’s seat as Vijay Shankar and Jason Holder fell soon after with the Men in Orange needing 16 runs in the final over. There was to be one final twist in the tale as Harshal Patel bowled a no-ball which went to the boundary in the final over which left SRH needing only 8 runs from the final 4 deliveries. Fortunately, Harshal atoned for his mistake and finished the over smartly to help RCB win by 6 runs and register their second consecutive victory in the tournament.

It was a game SRH should have won considering they bowled beautifully in the first innings to restrict Bangalore to a below-par total. Bhuvneshwar Kumar was able to get rid of Devdutt Padikkal early on while Rashid Khan bowled an excellent spell in the middle overs to dismiss the dangerous AB De Villiers and leave RCB reeling at 109-6. Bangalore eventually got to a defendable total of 149 thanks to some clever batting from Glenn Maxwell at the death as he scored his first half-century in 5 years in the IPL in only his second game with RCB.

Nevertheless, SRH were in total control of the chase with David Warner at the crease. Warner – along with his countryman Maxwell – was the only batter who looked comfortable on the tricky Chennai wicket and looked set to take his side home. Warner scored his first half-century of the season of only 31 deliveries but crucially was dismissed by Kyle Jamieson which triggered their collapse. As the set batsman, Manish Pandey was then charged with seeing the side home but his dismissal in the 17th over was a shot in the arm for SRH especially considering he batted for 39 balls with a strike rate less than 100.

While SRH will rue this defeat, the Men in Orange still have to play 3 more games in these spinning conditions and will have to adapt accordingly if they wish to make the playoffs for the 6th season in a row.