Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL
On Friday, May 23, the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) defeated Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) by 42 runs in match 65 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025, at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. Coming on the back of Ishan Kishan’s powerful knock of unbeaten 94, SRH bowlers restricted the Jitesh Sharma-led side to 189/10, registering a convincing win.
For the unversed, after winning the toss, the stand-in captain of RCB, Jitesh Sharma, decided to bowl first. With the return of Travis Head in the SRH XI after recovering from COVID-19, the explosive opening pair of started from the very first over. After stitching a 54-run stand for the first wicket, a combined effort from Lungi Ngidi and Phil Salt helped RCB get the first breakthrough, dismissing Abhishek Sharma for 17-ball 34. Travis Head soon followed Abhishek Sharma in the dugout after scoring 17 off 10 balls.
Heinrich Klassen (24 off 13) and Aniket Verma (26 off nine) also played quickfire innings, but Ishan Kishan shone with his unbeaten 94 off 48 deliveries, guiding SRH to a competitive score of 231 at the loss of six wickets in their stipulated 20 overs. Among the RCB bowlers, Romario Shepherd picked up two wickets whereas each of Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Lungi Ngidi, Suyash Sharma and Krunal Pandya finished with a wicket apiece.
SRH restrict RCB to 189; win by 42 runs
In the run chase, Phil Salt and Virat Kohli gave a brisk start at the top of the order. The duo stitched 80-run stand for the first wicket. Virat Kohli, who seemed to have returned to his form was then dismissed by Harsh Dubey after scoring 43 off 25 deliveries. Mayank Agarwal then joined Head in the middle but his inning was cut short by Nitish Kumar Reddy. The SRH skipper then dismissed in-form batter Phil Salt (62 off 32), Rajat Patidar and Jitesh Sharma failed to make much of an impact with the bat in the middle-order.
The lower-middle order also fell like pack of cards and RCB was reduced to 189/10 in the 19.5 overs. While the win didn’t made much of an impact as SRH have already been knocked out of the tournament and RCB have already sealed their playoffs berth, but a defeat for the Bengaluru-based franchise saw them drop to the third place in the IPL 2025 standings.
With a game still to go for both the franchises, RCB will be hoping to get their run-rate back on track with a comprehensive margin as they take on Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in the last league stage fixture of IPL 2025 at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium on Tuesday, May 27.
