Credit: BCCI/IPL
A dream run for Virat Kohli and Royal Challengers Bengaluru got the most heartbreaking end as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated them at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on May 29, 2016. RCB had a memorable season that year as they entered the final for the third time. Skipper Virat Kohli also smashed 973 runs in a season along with four centuries, setting a new record in the tournament. However, David Warner and his men had a better outing on the night of the final as SRH turned out to become a franchise to win their maiden title that year.
As Virat Kohli had a record-breaking season with 973 runs in 16 matches, David Warner also came second in the list of leading run-scorers of the season, scoring 848 runs from 17 matches. He also stood up in the final playing a captain’s knock of 69(38) runs in the final as SRH posted a match-winning total of 208/7 in their 20 overs. In reply, RCB also had a great start but failed to keep with the momentum and could only reach 200/7 in their 20 overs.
Ben Cutting’s late cameo took the match away from RCB in the final
Batting first in the final of IPL 2016, SRH got a great start as David Warner and Shikhar Dhawan added 63 runs for the first wicket in 6.4 overs. However, the run rate got slow in the middle overs and SRH was reduced to 147/4 after the end of 16 overs. After that, Ben Cutting came to bat and smashed an unbeaten 39*(15) runs as SRH crossed the 200-run mark. He ended up collecting 24 runs from the last over along with Bhuvneshwar Kumar as SRH now had an upper against RCB in the final.
Chasing the winning target, RCB also got a flying start as Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle added 114 runs for the first wicket in 10.3 overs. Gayle smashed 76(38) runs while Kohli got out after scoring 54 off 35 balls. However, after the partnership was broken, the RCB middle-order failed terribly and failed to keep the momentum going set by Kohli and Gayle. In the end, RCB fell short of just seven runs from SRH’s total as the Orange Army finally lifted their maiden IPL title in their first final.
