That wry smile. That slow trudge back to the dressing room.
Virat Kohli’s season of miseries continues. But his second golden duck within a fortnight didn’t stop Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) from posting a 67-run victory against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Wankhede Stadium on Sunday.
Like Kohli, Sunrisers captain Kane Williamson, who has been having even a worse tournament, was out the first ball, which he wasn’t even facing. Unlike Royal Challengers, the Hyderabad franchise could not recover from a terrible start as it fell well short of the target of 193.
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Captain Faf du Plessis (73 not out, 50b, 8x4, 2x6) played the anchor’s role after winning the toss. He also got to watch some breathtaking strokeplay from a vantage point, as Rajat Patidar (48, 38b, 4x4, 2x6), Glenn Maxwell (33, 24b, 3x4, 2x6) and the irrepressible Dinesh Karthik (30 not out, 8b, 1x4, 4x6) went after the bowling.
It was indeed a stunning cameo from the Tamil Nadu wicketkeeper. He hit three successive sixes and then a four in the final over, bowled by Fazalhaq Farooqi, the left-arm seamer from Afghanistan making his debut in the competition. The first of those sixes though was a dropped catch by Rahul Tripathi at deep square-leg; 25 came off the over.
It was for the eighth time in his 12 innings this season that Karthik remained unbeaten. He now has 274 runs at a strike rate of 200 and an average of 68.50.
The Royal Challengers innings had begun in dramatic fashion. Williamson decided to open the bowling with the left-arm spin of Jagadeesha Suchith. The first ball was a harmless half-volley, off which Kohli gave a comfortable catch to Sunrisers captain at short mid-wicket.
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But Patidar put on 105 for the second wicket with his captain, off just 73 balls. That would prove crucial.
The Sunrisers’ chase began on the wrong foot, with non-striker Williamson being run-out by a direct hit from Shahbaz Ahmed from covers off the first ball. Then off the fifth ball, Maxwell knocked down the off stump of Sunrisers’ leading run-getter, Abhishek Sharma, who tried to pull across the line.
Tripathi (58, 37b, 6x4, 2x6) and Aiden Markram (21, 27b, 1x4, 1x6) added 50 for the third wicket before the South African became one of the five victims of Wanindu Hasaranga. His splendid spell helped his side exact revenge for the nine-wicket defeat by Sunrisers a couple of weeks ago.
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