CHENNAI: A golden duck and a diamond duck. The 54th match of the ongoing IPL season between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad witnessed quite a bizarre start in both the innings at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai on Sunday.
Even as Virat Kohli’s struggle with the bat continued with the former India captain getting out off the first ball of the match — his third golden duck this edition and sixth overall — a direct throw from Shahbaz Ahmed in the second innings sent Hyderabad skipper Kane Williamson back to the pavilion even before he faced a ball, thus registering a diamond duck against his name.
The jittery starts meant both the teams were 0/1 after the first ball of their respective innings. In such a situation, upcoming batters generally resurrect the innings by playing cautiously and getting runs on the board before breaking free.
While the Bengaluru franchise did exactly the same as their skipper Faf du Plessis (unbeaten 73 off 50) along with Rajat Patidar (38-ball 48) added 104 for the second wicket before wicketkeeper-batter Dinesh Karthik went berserk, scoring an 8-ball 30 to help them post a formidable total of 192/3 in 20 overs.
On the contrary, Hyderabad’s in-form opener Abhishek Sharma followed his captain back to the hut in the first over itself to derail their chase and they never recovered from there.
Despite a fighting half-century from Rahul Tripathi (58 from 37 balls), they eventually folded out for 125 in 19.2 overs with Wanindu Hasaranga claiming five wickets for 18 runs — the best bowling figures this season.
Earlier, the slow left-arm orthodox bowler, Jagadeesha Suchith, opened the bowling for Hyderabad.
Suchith’s first delivery was a fuller one on the pads which Kohli flicked on the leg side only to offer a simple catch to Williamson at short-midwicket.
Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 192/3 in 20 ovs (Du Plessis 72 n.o, Patidar 48; Suchith 2/30) bt Sunrisers Hyderabad 125 in 19.2 ovs (Tripathi 58; Hasaranga 5/18, Hazlewood 2/17).
Full story: newindianexpress.com