MAY 4, 2019
Brief Scorecard: Royal Challengers Bangalore 178 for 6 (Hetmyer 75, Gurkeerat 65) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 175 for 7 (Williamson 70*, Washington 3-24) by four wickets
BANGALORE – Royal Challengers Bangalore ended their IPL 2019 season with a 4-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bangalore on Saturday. With this result, SRH remain in a close fight with KKR for the fourth position in the points table, which will determine who grabs the fourth and final playoff spot.
RCB captain Virat Kohli won the toss and decided to field first. SRH’s openers Martin Guptill and Wriddhiman Saha got the team off a flying start, before Navdeep Saini got the breakthrough by dismissing Saha for 20 off 11 balls.
At the end of six overs, SRH were 52 for 1.
After the power play, Washington Sundar dismissed Guptill and Manish Pandey in quick succession to leave the visitors reeling. SRH captain Kane Williamson and Vijay Shankar then steadied the innings, adding 45 runs for the 4th wicket.
Shankar looked impressive with his hitting, but was dismissed by Sundar for a quickfire 27 off 18 balls. RCB bowlers kept picking wickets at regular intervals after that, but Williamson remained steady, reaching his fifty off 38 balls.
The skipper was simply sensational in the last over, hitting Umesh Yadav for 28 runs and helping SRH post 175 for 7 in 20 overs.
Chasing the target of 176 runs, it was not the greatest of starts for RCB as they lost the wickets of Parthiv Patel, captain Kohli and AB de Villiers in the first 3 overs. But Shimron Hetymer and Gurkeerat Singh Mann counterattacked with some positive stroke play, and at the end of six overs RCB were 49 for 3.
After the power play, Hetymer and Mann took on the SRH bowlers with some clean hitting. Both hit singles and boundaries with ease, and Hetymer reached his fifty off 32 balls. Mann followed him with his own half century off 39 balls, and the two added 144 runs for the 4th wicket.
Rashid Khan dismissed Hetymer for a well-made 75 to throw one final twist into the game. In the very next over, Khaleel Ahmed got the wicket of Mann for 65 and then dismissed Sundar too.
But with 6 runs required off 6 balls, Umesh Yadav hit two boundaries and helped RCB register a consolation win.
