Superb Sunrisers romp past Bangalore

Cricket365
April 15, 2015

The Sunrisers Hyderabad enjoyed a cracking all-rounder performance against the Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday, winning their IPL clash by eight wickets thanks to some superb late bowling and top order batting.

Bangalore were restricted to 166 all out, with Trent Boult taking three late wickets in one over to stem the tide, and then David Warner's half ton and Shikhar Dhawan's steady hand ensured the win with 16 balls to spare.

The Sunrisers opted to field first, looking to their very good bowling attack to make the batting easier later on. Initially that seemed to be a poor plan, as Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli got some fast runs on the board.

They were on 43 inside the sixth over when Gayle departed though, having made 21 off 16 balls. Kohli kept going though, first with Dinesh Karthik and then AB de Villiers. Karthik was only able to add nine though.

Kohli was out for 41 in the 12th over, bowled by Ravi Bopara, leaving De Villiers to continue on his won as wickets tumbled. The South Africa batsman recorded 46 off 28 balls before the Boult assault began.

The New Zealand paceman removed De Villiers, Sean Abbott and Harshal Patel in the 19th over, completely stuttering the death over runs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar then chipped in by removing the last two wickets in the final over.

The chase was a relative breeze for the Sunrisers, as skipper Warner added to the superb catch he'd taken earlier by scoring 57 off just 27 balls. By the time he fell, nearly half the runs were on the board already, on 82.

While Kane Williamson was stumped for five, it was not the end of the world as Dhawan's 50 not out and Lokesh Rahul's 44 off 28 balls easily saw them home. RCB will be disappointed by their poor pace bowling, all going at more than 10 to the over.