Sunrisers Hyderabad beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 55 runs in the 67th match of the Indian Premier League. Sunrisers Hyderabad needed to win this match by a massive margin to finish in the top two. They were batting first and posted 255 at the end of the first innings to give them a great chance. Chasing the target, Royal Challengers Bengaluru finished with 200/4 and despite losing the game they managed to secure their top spot in the table. Gujarat Titans finished second while Sunrisers Hyderabad ended up in third. This was a fascinating contest between these two sides.
SRH 255/4 (Ishan Kishan 79, Rasikh 2/52) beat RCB 200/4 (Patidar 56, Eshan Malinga 2/33)
Sakib Hussain: My plan was to understand the wicket and bowl accordingly. It is my dream wicket (smiles). We planned to bowl slower balls. I just try to improve as much as I can. We will give our 100% and hopefully we will do well.
Rajat Patidar: (Too many runs on the board?) Obviously, I think their top five batsmen played really well, and they purely dominated in the first innings. (Pitch slowed down?) Not really, but I think the slow bouncer was gripping a bit, but I think the way... their strength is slow bouncers and yorkers, they executed pretty well. (Top priority to finish on top?) The top priority was to be on the top, but I think, there were a lot of runs in the first inning. I think 255 is a good score on this wicket. And I think their five bowlers executed the slow bouncers and yorkers pretty well. (Wasn't easy to hit the slow bouncers?) Obviously, Hyderabad, I think it's a good wicket, but when you start bowling slow bouncers, slow into the wicket, I think it's really tough for the batsman to score the runs.
Pat Cummins:
It was pretty impressive to get the score that we did. I thought the boys batted fantastically and it's a good bowling performance. So everyone's hitting their straps. A pretty good wicket, we knew a lot of things had to go our way. Yeah, it got close. Yeah, I think they were trying make sure they got up to that score. So we threw a few different things at them, but it's still a big win. So, good. (On the bowling unit) They've been fantastic. I've actually learned a lot off those guys as well.The way Eshan has bowled all season, particularly in that powerplay. He's been the form bowler of the comp, kind of with his slow balls and his mixing up different things. And of course, Sakib there as well. So captain's dream.
Ishan Kishan | Player of the Match:
Just happy about it, taking one game at a time. I do feel confident when I am playing against them (RCB). More than maturity, it's about shot selection. You need to feel confident. From day one, we had that in mind, to finish in the top-two. Pat coming in, one of the best bowlers, it's very good to have him. Credit goes to everyone for keeping us in the zone. you just keep it simple, it's about enjoying in the middle. I need to give the credit to the support staff and Pat Cummins.
