What the SRH defeat means to RCB in the top-two race

Openers in sync

Three weeks since RCB’s last outing and his first sighting back with the bat since hanging up his Test whites 11 days ago, Friday’s Virat Kohli was cut from a cloth he would have perhaps relished during his prolonged red-ball lull this decade. The former India Test No. 4’s imperceptible back-foot play was often cited during a parched Test stretch.

But when Kohli pressed back in the crease to smear Pat Cummins’ loose ball outside off-stump, a blazing cut sped to the backward point fence off the first delivery he faced in a steep chase.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Virat Kohli and Phil Salt touch bats after scoring runs during the Indian Premier League cricket match. (AP photo)

An expertly curated tap through mid-off, deep from the crease off left-armer Jaydev Unadkat in the second over hinted at a changing Kohli in his most favoured setting of a high-pressure chase. More vigorous in his movements back, forth and across the depths of the crease, Kohli smothered pace with unusually balletic feet and stinging dexterity. Turning up for the first time in a month, a returning Phil Salt only found his radar towards the end of the first-six, by which time Kohli had equalled his best Powerplay shares in an IPL innings, gathering 42 of the 72-run stand in 22 deliveries.

But in tempestuous conformity to his final Test season, Kohli fell abruptly in the seventh over with an exaggerated back-foot slice off left-arm tweaker Harsh Dubey falling in Abhishek Sharma’s palms, at backward point.

A fledgling 21-year-old Kohli and his masterful self at 35 were unbeaten on the only two occasions RCB had previously chased down 200-plus scores in the IPL in 2010 and 2024. Keeping up the top-two hopes on the lively Lucknow pitch was a refreshing Salt procession.

Doubling his Powerplay start in a flash, Salt ground the lengths of the slower bowlers into smithereens with eight boundaries in a 27-ball fifty, shredding the chunky target by half at the 10-over mark.

But for a couple of wickets in succession, marked by Salt’s miscued skier to mid-off triggered, slow panic struck the RCB camp. Nitish Reddy’s tight 15th over, the first in the innings with no boundaries, summoned improbable doom. The chase fizzled out within five balls of harakiri as Rajat Patidar’s sloppy run-out and Romario Shepherd’s tame chip culminated in stand-in skipper Jitesh Sharma’s faltering slog-sweep to the deep mid-wicket fielder.

Reduced to one knee after troubling his hamstring patrolling the fence earlier in the night, Tim David could not muster enough muscle for momentum to lead the side past 200, leaving RCB with growing concerns six days out from the Playoffs.

Saving the blushes

On a dark and devious strip where both teams were uncertain of batting first, the Sunrisers curiously conjured up a start that stood true to their nature, igniting the plot for a freakishly high score. But as has been the wont through a patchy league phase, SRH’s big boys failed to sustain the fireworks in the first half. While they seemed to end up short on gunpowder to last the full 20, Ishan Kishan finally emerged from hibernation.

For once in 11 outings since his stellar franchise debut in Hyderabad in March with a statement hundred, Kishan was cautious with the jabs and pulls. Openers Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head had earlier teased to scorch the rusty RCB bowlers but were stopped in their tracks within the Powerplay.

Preempting Bhuvneshwar Kumar’s stingy lines on the stumps, Abhishek dazzled with his proactive nous. A charged side-step to hoist a straight delivery over long-off the first ball he faced off the veteran seamer prompted Bhuvneshwar to abandon his search for swing and lodge the ball short, only to see Abhishek waiting to deposit the off-cutter over mid-wicket for six.

Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Ishan Kishan in action REUTERS/Stringer

Firing on all cylinders has been ingrained into the ‘Travishek’ label, but the sorry tune of the season continued as the volatile southpaws imploded, playing a shot too many even as they punched past 50 within 21 balls.

For the last 21 deliveries of the innings, SRH’s frenzy juices were limited after six casualties, left to Kishan salvage his strange season that began with a promising 106 not out and constricted to 125 runs in 10 innings thereafter. As SRH peppered 51 from 16.3 overs onwards, Kishan crammed in 37, an unbeaten 48-ball 94 relieving some of the built-up burden.

Patience at the crease bore fruition as a thunderous slog-sweep off Krunal Pandya and a meaty one-hander over the long-on fence from Bhuvneshwar’s 18th over reaffirmed Kishan’s range and his unfulfilled potential within another middling season.

Brief Scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 231/6 (94* off 48b; R Shepherd 2/14) beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru 189 in 19.5 overs (P Salt 62 off 32b, V Kohli 43 off 25; P Cummins 3/28) by 42 runs.