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The Times of India

Sport

Manuja Veerappa | TNN

IPL 2022, SRH vs RCB: Sunrisers Hyderabad blow away Royal Challengers Bangalore

RCB Sunrisers SRH Royal Challengers Bangalore Sunrisers Hyderabad Marco Jansen Virat Kohli Dinesh Karthik Kane Williamson T Natarajan

Kohli gets back-to-back first-ball ducks as Jansen, Natarajan dazzle

For Royal Challengers Bangalore, the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai turned into a haunted house on Saturday as they played out a horror show they won't forget in a hurry.

AS IT HAPPENED

Against Sunrisers Hyderabad's fiery bowling attack, Faf du Plessis' men came up woefully short in shot selection and focus and crumbled to 68 in 16.1 overs, the sixth lowest total in the IPL.

Soon, Sunrisers batters rubbed salt into RCB's wounds and called it an early night. Powered by Abhishek Sharma's 28-ball 47 (8x4; 1x6), the team cruised to 72/1 in eight overs for a convincing nine-wicket victory.

Invited to bat by Kane Williamson, the RCB wheels came off in the second over bowled by South Africa's young pacer Marco Jansen (3/25). The 21-year-old struck off the second ball when Du Plessis was beaten, losing his off stump to the fullish delivery. Virat Kohli's woeful form continued. For the second time this season, the former skipper had to endure a first ball dismissal as he offered a thick edge to Aiden Markram at second slip.

1/10:Hyderabad beat Bangalore
<p>Virat Kohli's miserable IPL continued on Saturday when he was dismissed for a second successive golden duck as his Royal Challengers Bangalore were skittled for just 68 by Sunrisers Hyderabad who strolled to a nine-wicket win. (BCCI/IPL/PTI Photo)</p>

Spectators watched in disbelief as a disappointed Kohli made his way back to the dugout with his team at 5/2. RCB's nightmare was far from over, as Jansen finished the second over with the wicket of opener Anuj Rawat. Much like Kohli, Rawat too chose to play with hard hands and offered a low catch to Markram in the slips.

The Sunrisers bowlers operated on a different plane and Williamson did well to mix pace and spin to trouble the RCB batters. They tightened the screws by fusing economy with wicket-taking deliveries. The pace bowlers, watched by a visibly pleased bowling coach Dale Steyn, were on top of their game.

If Umran Malik (1/13), whose deliveries touched 145 kmph, was unplayable, T Natarajan (3/10) with his yorkers and length balls ensured a hellish ride for RCB. Add to it the accuracy with which Jansen bowled, the batsmen were left scurrying for cover. J Suchith (2/12), the lone spinner, delivered on expected lines.

Glenn Maxwell (12) was tasked with the job of reviving the innings, but Natarajan, a natural exponent of seam bowling, had other plans. A full delivery from the pacer was chipped by Maxwell and Williamson took a diving catch at mid-off, which was reviewed but went in favour of SRH.

At 20/4 in the fifth over RCB were in deep trouble. With the exit of Suyash Prabhuddesai, the highest scorer for RCB with 15, in the ninth over, the team sank further and its hopes rested in their middle-order stars Shahbaz Ahmed (7) and Dinesh Karthik (0).

But Suchith, who got Pradhuddesai's wicket, accounted for Karthik, when the latter attempted to sweep a delivery going down the leg-side and offered an edge to wicketkeeper Nicholas Pooran. RCB let out a sigh of relief with a wide being called but Karthik walked back following a successful appeal from SRH.