ABU DHABI, CMC – West Indies Twenty20 World Cup reserve Jason Holder put in another neat all-round performance, and Sunrisers Hyderabad held their nerve to beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by four runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) yesterday.
Holder made 16 off 13 balls and Sunrisers posted 141 for seven from 20 overs.
The 6ft, 4 in tall all-rounder returned to bowl a tidy spell of 1-27 from his four overs, as Sunrisers kept things tight with the ball in the closing stage, and needing 13 from the final over at the Zayed Cricket Stadium, RCB fell short of the target.
Sunrisers are already guaranteed to finish the season at the bottom of the standings, but the defeat was a blow to RCB.
They remain third in the table and are now unlikely to overtake second-placed Chennai Super Kings because of an inferior net run rate.
The top four teams after the round-robin preliminary stage will qualify for the playoffs and a top-two finish gives teams two opportunities to qualify for the final on October 15.
RCB captain Virat Kohli got the match going with a crisp four through the off-side, but Bhuvneshwar Kumar trapped him lbw for five in the first over.
Siddarth Kaul claimed Dan Christian caught at mid-off for one in the fourth over and RCB ended the powerplay 37 for two.
Speedster Umran Malik, 21, playing only his second IPL match, bowled with genuine pace and got his maiden IPL wicket of KS Bharat caught behind for 12 in the seventh over and RCB were in trouble on 38 for three.
In the ninth over, Malik reached a speed of 153 kilometres an hour (95 miles an hour) – the fastest delivery of this year’s competition, but Australian Glenn Maxwell joined Devdutt Padikkal and they added 54 for the fourth wicket.
Maxwell announced his arrival in style with a six off the second ball he faced, and then took on Rashid Khan in the 10th over, hitting the leg-spinner for a four and a six as RCB reached 67 for three at the halfway stage.
Maxwell continued merrily and Padikkal batted with caution and carried RCB close to the 100 mark.
A direct hit from Sunrisers and New Zealand captain Kane Williamson ran out Maxwell for 40 and ended the resistance in the 15th over.
Afghanistan leg-spinner Rashid Khan got Padikkal caught at deep mid-wicket for 41 in the 17th over, as
Sunrisers managed to stay in the hunt and Kumar conceded only eight from the final over to give them the win.
Earlier, England batsman Jason Roy hit 44 off 38 balls and Williamson added 31 from 29 balls to lead the Sunrisers’ batting.
Harshal Patel took 3-33 for RCB, moving to third in the list of most wickets of 29 in a single IPL season.
Harshal bowled Williamson with a delightful off-cutter and took the wickets of Holder and Wriddhiman Saha for 10 down the stretch.
West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo – with 32 wickets for CSK eight years ago – holds the IPL single season record for wickets.
With one preliminary match remaining and RCB through to the play-offs, Harshal can break Bravo’s record.
