Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Virat Kohli credited SunRisers Hyderabad’s bowlers for holding on to their nerves in the last overs and sealing a four-run win over his team in the 52nd match of IPL 2021 in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.
Notably, Bhuvneshwar Kumar defended 13 runs off to help Sunrisers Hyderabad dent RCB’s hopes of a top-two finish with a narrow four-run win in a last-over IPL thriller. After putting on board a modest 141 for 7, SRH returned to limit RCB to 137 for six for only their third win in the league.
Defending 18 off last two overs, Jason Holder bowled a superb over, giving away just five runs for one wicket. AB de Villiers smashed a six in the fourth ball of the final over bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar but couldn’t take the team home as the South African could not pull off a six the team needed in the last ball.
Kohli pointed out that Glenn Maxwell’s run-out was the game-changing moment while adding that the defeat against SRH was a little hiccup in their journey. Chasing the total, Devdutt Padikkal (41) and Glenn Maxwell (40) scored the bulk of the runs but RCB kept losing wickets and faltered in the end. While Maxwell was run out against the run of play and Padikkal fell to Rashid as SRH took the upper hand.
“Maxi’s run-out was the game-changing moment. With AB you are never out of the game, but it is about making sure that the guy whose inflow should be on strike.
“Not as effective when chasing that down. Shahbaz played a crucial knock at that stage, it is a game of small margins, I think Sunrisers held their nerve and bowled their last few deliveries pretty well to not allow us to get away,” Kohli added.
“Looks like he’s back to his best after a layoff (on Chahal). We want him to bowl well. This tournament throws up talent every year, good to see a guy bowling at 150 clicks.
“It is important to know the progress of individuals going forward. Whenever you see talent like this, you need to nurture them. A little hiccup in the journey but we will carry on with the same momentum,” Kohli signed off.
