IPL 2021 | SRH vs RCB - What Experts said as SRH surrender from winning position

The MA Chidambaram Stadium produced yet another low-scoring thriller as the Royal Challengers Bangalore edged past Sunrisers Hyderabad by 6 runs in a cliffhanger to go atop the points table in Vivo IPL 2021. Similar to the clash between KKR and MI where KKR were cruising to the target, the match looked dead and buried with David Warner and Manish Pandey ticking along the scorers and looking in brilliant touch. 

It was the wicket of David Warner and a triple wicket 17th over by Shahbaz Ahmed which turned the game on it’s head. Eventually, a composed Harshal Patel delivered the killer punch in the final over defending the 15 runs with some well-disguised slower deliveries and yorkers. 

For 80 per cent of the game, Sunrisers Hyderabad were the hot favourites to win but pretty ordinary batting in the final stages of the matches allowed RCB to get a sniff and they pounced on that opportunity with both hands. 

Barring an early wicket of Wriddhiman Saha, the Sunrisers Hyderabad were in cruise control when David Warner and Manish Pandey were at the middle. Manish Pandey didn’t score at a brisk pace but with Warner looking in sublime touch, Manish didn’t needed to do anything fancy. 

The wicket of David Warner brought about a collapse. Kyle Jamieson bowled a terrific over which included the wicket of the dangerous southpaw and that allowed RCB to claw their way back into the game. 

Time and again Virat Kohli has been questioned about his decisions on the field especially while leading RCB but the brave decision to go with Shahbaz Ahmed in the 17th over proved to be a masterstroke. The left-arm spinner bowled perfect lines and some horrendous shots from Jonny Bairstow, Manish Pandey and Abdul Samad brought about their downfall in that over. Shabaz bagged 3 wickets conceding just a solitary run and it proved to be the turning point in the game. 

Earlier in the day, it was David Warner who won the toss and put RCB in. Devdutt Padikkal who was RCB’s leading run-scorer in the previous season returned to the playing XI and came out to open the innings with skipper Virat Kohli. Padikkal couldn’t get going and was eventually dismissed after scoring 11 of 13 deliveries. 

Virat Kohli looked in good touch and along with Shahbaz Ahmed tried to resurrect the innings. Shahbaz was dismissed early as well but it was the partnership between Maxwell and Kohli that got RCB back into the game. 

Yet again, Maxwell looked in ominous touch and carried on from where he left against the Mumbai Indians. He didn’t start off with a bang and played the situation perfectly. Following some quick wickets against the run of play, Maxwell rotated the strike to perfection and opened his arms in the final two overs. 

It was his knock of 59 of 41 deliveries that allowed them to get near the 150 mark. Eventually, a score below 150 yet again proved to be enough in Chennai as RCB made it two out of two in the 14th season of the extravaganza. 

Captain’s Viewpoints 

Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper David Warner lamented the fact that SRH allowed Bangalore to get a sniff which they pounced on. He expressed his disappointment at the way they played cross-batted shots against Shahbaz Ahmed which proved to be the game-changer in the end. 

“A very big bitter pill to swallow. Obviously Maxi batted well, but our bowlers did well to restrict them. Look, it was just about building a partnership...and I was quite disappointed with how we went - cross-batted shots against left-arm orthodox. It just hurts,” Warner said. 

SRH have now lost both their first two encounters and they will need to turn their fortunes around pretty soon. With three more games remaining for SRH at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai, Warner feels that the pitches will just get better for batting and they are hoping to execute their plans to perfection in the next encounter. 

“We have another three games here, the wickets are going to get better here. We need to try to take powerplay wickets and need to have one big partnership in the middle. The last four games here the team batting second should've won the game. Last night's game was an example and we played an identical game,” Warner added. 

Meanwhile, Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli hailed his boys for producing a magical show and make a dramatic turnaround to seal the match from nowhere. He gave the example of the MI-KKR game where under a similar situation KKR faltered and it went the same way even in this encounter. Kohli emphasised the fact that just like RCB struggled to 149 it would have been that much difficult for SRH to chase the target down. 

“Not as exhausted as I'm proud. It was a top game for us and probably it will get more and more tougher here. You saw it in KKR vs MI - you're never really out of the game. Those extra options made the impact performances in the middle overs. I told them if we've struggled to 149, it will be tougher for the opposition,” Kohli said. 

Even last year RCB started off the campaign in a splendid fashion and faded out during the business end of the tournament and almost scraped through to the playoffs. Perhaps given that in mind, Kohli said that they are not over-excited with the victories and needs to keep on executing their plans to perfection. 

“I truly believed we could win with 150. The wicket was never a belter and tonight our execution under pressure was spot-on. The wicket kept getting tougher and tougher with the old ball. It's about getting momentum in the first six overs, but for us Maxi gave us that momentum and got us closer to 150. 

To be very honest, we're not over-excited with victories. We have a clear plan and backing our players. Got Harshal from Delhi for a role. It's a long tournament and you have to be professional with your job,” Kohli added. 

Experts' take 

Harsha Bhogle congratulated Bangalore for winning their second match in as many games. Besides he also portrayed the last two matches at Chepauk as a horror movie named Death overs. for the second successive day a relatively low total was defended by the team batting first. 

It was almost that history repeating itself as it went on the same terms as the KKR-MI encounter. Prominent journalist Sambit Bal resonated the fact and also reminded the viewers that it was just the 7th half-century for Glenn Maxwell in the IPL. He feels that this could be the best year for the swashbuckling all-rounder. 

Former Indian opener and one of the most prominent voices of cricket currently, Aakash Chopra also voiced his opinion on the game. He accepted the fact that lightning does strike at the same place twice in two days. He also believed that in due course captains winning the toss will chose to bat first given the trend in this season so far.