What ails batsmen in low-score chases nowadays? Is it the simplicity of the equation that becomes too overbearing? Or are current batsmen hardwired to play only big shots when the game asks them to just squirt a few singles and nudge the gaps? For two consecutive days, two sides made a royal mess of final Powerplay equations. On Tuesday, Kolkata Knight Riders lost by 10 runs a match where they needed 30 off 24 balls. On Wednesday, needing 35 off 24, Sunrisers lost three wickets in the 17th over, one each in the next two before taking the equation to 16 off six balls. A single, a two, a no-ball thwacked for a boundary, dot ball, a run out, a catch and a single later, Sunrisers Hyderabad joined KKR in the dubious list of teams who can’t hold their nerve when all they need to do is stick to basics.
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Royal Challengers Bangalore will consider themselves lucky given the snag they developed at the top. Twice in a row now has Virat Kohli got out on 29-ball 33. And like against Mumbai Indians, this time too he was dismissed in the 13th over. These are uncannily worrying similarities. To be dismissed at a stage when you are set to switch gears can be a blow to the guts. Kohli returned with a strike rate of 113.79 and RCB had to start rebuilding again on an increasingly difficult pitch. It might prompt a review of batting approach, especially in the ‘balls faced’ category. Kohli may not have aerial superiority but can be devastating playing straight shots, as displayed in the boundaries launched over the bowlers’ heads in the first and 11th overs. To have such a game-changer deliberately playing second fiddle—Kohli faced four balls after three overs, 14 after the sixth and only 21 after the 10th—doesn’t do justice to his ability.
It also put undue pressure on his partners. Devdutt Pallikal—coming in place of Rajat Patidar—was slow off the blocks. Shahbaz Ahmed caught a few seconds of fame with a six over long-leg. Glenn Maxwell flared up only in the last three overs. Before that Sunrisers Hyderabad had the game more or less under control. Their catching, particularly in the outfield, was impeccable. Between T Natarajan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, they landed quite a few yorkers right. The only over Kumar lost his length was in the 18th when he was spanked for three boundaries, two off full tosses. Natarajan too conceded two boundaries in the next over but barring the last three overs that raised 39 runs, Bangalore were largely rudderless. Maxwell did get his first IPL fifty since 2016 but it wasn’t really a seamless effort, particularly in the ninth over when he just couldn’t clear the infield against Shahbaz Nadeem. That over yielded only three runs. Despite the hiccups, Bangalore managed to reach a par score for the pitch.
{{/usCountry}}It also put undue pressure on his partners. Devdutt Pallikal—coming in place of Rajat Patidar—was slow off the blocks. Shahbaz Ahmed caught a few seconds of fame with a six over long-leg. Glenn Maxwell flared up only in the last three overs. Before that Sunrisers Hyderabad had the game more or less under control. Their catching, particularly in the outfield, was impeccable. Between T Natarajan and Bhuvneshwar Kumar, they landed quite a few yorkers right. The only over Kumar lost his length was in the 18th when he was spanked for three boundaries, two off full tosses. Natarajan too conceded two boundaries in the next over but barring the last three overs that raised 39 runs, Bangalore were largely rudderless. Maxwell did get his first IPL fifty since 2016 but it wasn’t really a seamless effort, particularly in the ninth over when he just couldn’t clear the infield against Shahbaz Nadeem. That over yielded only three runs. Despite the hiccups, Bangalore managed to reach a par score for the pitch.
{{/usCountry}}But Sunrisers Hyderabad, in comparison, started better with David Warner and Manish Pandey rotating the strike well when not piercing the gaps for boundaries. Kyle Jamieson, who impressed with the two boundaries he belted off Kumar earlier, was picked apart in the fourth over that added 17 runs. Twelve more runs in the last Powerplay over, off Mohammad Siraj, and Sunrisers Hyderabad were well on their way to chase down 149. It was Yuzvendra Chahal though who slowed down the chase with a crafty two-over spell, conceding only 12 runs.
Next over, Warner hit two boundaries to ease the pressure but Sunrisers looked in trouble when Jamieson dismissed Warner, taking off pace and inducing a feeble pull from wide outside off that couldn’t clear Dan Christian at long-on. By then Pandey’s strike rate had dropped to below 100. Jonny Bairstow’s departure, the first ball of the final Powerplay, made Sunrisers’ prospects gloomier. Next ball, Pandey holed out to Harshal Patel at short third-man, and the game was wide open again.