This was one of those matches where the losing captain can’t make sense of it. Similarly, a winning captain can’t smile enough on his good luck. That was the story in the third match of the IPL 2020 for David Warner and Virat Kohli.
Inexplicable collapse
Sunrisers Hyderabad’s worst fear came true in the very first match of the season. Seemingly the weakest middle-order, SRH exploded the moment Jonny Bairstow departed after a magnificent 61 runs off 31 balls which included two sixes and six fours. From 2 for 121 in the 16th over, SRh were 143 for 9 in the penultimate over. The dramatic collapse (7 wickets falling for addition of just 22 runs!) ensured there was no drama left further in the match. When the last SRH wicket fell, it was staggering to describe the falls of last 8 wickets inside 27 balls allowed Virat Kohli’s RCB to register its first win in the first match of an IPL season since 2016.
Rashid outclassed by Chahal
Not only Rashid Khan had an ordinary day by his own standards, Yuzvendra Chahal managed to elevate his performance when his team looked out of the contest. Chahal may have missed the hat trick in the match but his 4 overs for just 18 runs and 3 wickets were the main reason for RCB’s win. Remarkably, the Haryana leg-spinner conceded just a single boundary and bowled 11 crucial dot balls. Appropriately, he was adjudged Man of the match ahead of his team’s batters.
Equally Super start in Powerplays
Asked to bat first after losing the toss, RCB innings was given a flying start by debutant Devdutt Padikkal and Aaron Finch. 53 runs were scored in 6 overs. While chasing, SRH too managed to score 48 runs in power play but lost the crucial wicket of the captain David Warner.
Debutant and the legend did it for RCB
It wasn’t surprising to see Devdutt Padikkal walking with an experienced Aaron Finch as his opening partner. After some very impressive show in white ball cricket (he was the top-scorer in both the 50 over Vijay Hazare trophy and also in Syed Mushtaq Ali T20 trophy last season). Padikkal completed his first fifty in just 36 balls with 8 fours. If Sachin Tendulkar famously got a ton in his debut Ranji match, Duleep trophy game and Deodhar trophy and this young talent has been scoring fifty in the debut match of all types of domestic matches and now he has added an IPL game in this list.
Better we all start getting his name’s pronunciation correctly as we will keep talking about this special talent in coming years. And, after Padikkal’s departure, began the ‘ABD show’ which we all are used to over the years. Mr. 360 was in his elements and his 51 runs came off in just 30 balls (best strike rate in the match with anyone who reached double figures) with four fours and two amazing sixes. RCB were 86 for no loss half-way of their innings and must have been disappointed with just 77 runs in the final 10 overs. That gave AB de Villiers knock a proper context.
Of course, a target of 163 wasn’t a daunting one to start with and when Bairstow was playing so well victory for SRH seemed just a formality. Hyderabad needed just 43 off 29 and Chahal turned the entire match on its head. Warner and Kohli both said in the post match presentation that it was Chahal’s bowling that was the turning point of the match.
(Vimal Kumar is a senior sports journalist who has covered multiple cricket world cups and Rio Olympics in the last two decades. Vimal is also the author of Sachin: Cricketer Of The Century and The Cricket Fanatic’s Essential Guide.)
Check the complete IPL 2020 coverage HERE.
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