Sharjah: Wriddhiman Saha and Jason Holder played knocks of 39 and 26 respectively as SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by five wickets in the 52nd match of IPL 2020 at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Saturday.
SRH won the toss and elected to field first in Sharjah. Their decision to bowl first seemed perfect as RCB kept losing wickets at regular interval and managed to score just 120 runs in their 20 overs. Philippe (32 off 31 balls), Virat Kohli (7 off 7 balls), AB de Villiers (24 off 24 balls), all struggled at the slow pitch of Sharjah and didn’t look comfortable against SRH bowlers. Sandeep Sharma and Jason Holders were pick of the bowlers for SRH as the two managed to get two wickets each. They were well supported by spinner Rashid Khan who picked up one wicket, giving just 24 runs in his four overs.
Chasing just 121, SRH didn’t get a good after they lost their skipper David Warner for just 8 runs. Following Warner’s dismissal, Wriddhiman Saha and Manish Pandey took the onus on themselves to help their side win the match. The two batted with caution and scored 39 off 32 balls and 26 off 19 balls respectively. However, Yuzvendra Chahal, who is having a wonderful tournament, dismissed the two batsmen to dent SRH’s chase. After their departure, SRH kept losing wickets, helping RCB to stage a dramatic comeback. However, all-rounder Jason Holder (26 off 10 balls) kept his calm and hit three huge sixes, helping his side win the match by 5 wickets in hand.
With this win, SRH have jumped from seventh place to fourth in the points table. Four teams are on 12 points, but a healthy net run rate has helped them stay above the other three teams. On the other hand, RCB is in second place with 14 points from 13 matches.