IPL 9: RCB feast on hapless Eagles

Bengaluru: Royal Challengers Bangalore rode on fifties from AB de Villiers and Virat Kohli to post an imposing 227 against a lacklustre Sunrisers Hyderabad in their IPL-9 encounter here on Tuesday.

At the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, power-packed knocks from RCB skipper Kohli (75, 51b, 7x4, 3x6) and de Villiers (82, 42b, 7x4, 6x6) gave the hosts enough to defend on their home turf.

In reply, the Sunrisers got off to a sound start via David Warner’s 58 (25b, 4x4, 5x6) but had slipped to 147 for 6 after 16 overs, still needing 81 in fours overs at an improbable asking rate of 20.25 when this edition went to bed.

Earlier, asked to bat first, Bhuvneshwar Kumar broke RCB fans’ hearts dismissing Chris Gayle in his very first over. An unlucky Gayle trying to flick towards fine-leg dragged the in-swinger on to his stumps.

As fans were silenced with Gayle’s departure, the arrival of de Villiers
got them off their seats as Ashish Nehra was taken to the cleaners in the fourth over accounting 15 runs that included a huge six over long on.

In the very next over, de Villiers took charge of Bhuvneshwar Kumar (2-55) hammering the pacer for 16 runs. During the course of the Powerplay, the hosts accumulated 49 runs with the Proteas ace making the bulk of the scoring.

SRH’s fielders were tested as the supremely fit duo of Kohli and de Villiers stole singles on every given occasion to accelerate the scoring rate during the halfway mark. With SRH missing the services of Yuvraj Singh with an ankle injury, spearhead Nehra walked out after picking up an onfield injury.

On the other hand, RCB were racing away as de Villiers reached his fifty off 26 balls. Playing a pivotal role, Kohli slogged Karn Sharma over long on for six to reach his fifty in 41 balls.

Warner was desperate to break this runaway partnership and introduced Bhuvneshwar for his second spell. The Uttar Pradesh quickie had Kohli yorked to end an entertaining 87-ball 157-run second-wicket stand that laid the foundation for RCB.

Shane Watson opened his RCB account clobbering a hat-trick of sixes in leg-spinner Karn Sharma’s fourth over. Debutant Bangladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman (2-26) halted de Villiers’ run.