IPL 2020: Relentless Hyderabad beat Bangalore by 5 wickets to keep playoff hopes alive

With their qualification chances hanging by a thread, Sunrisers Hyderabad produced a clinical performance to beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by five wickets and stay alive in the IPL on Saturday.

Choosing to bowl first, SRH produced a brilliant bowling effort to restrict a batting-heavy Bangalore to a modest 120/7 from their 20 overs and then chased down the target in 14.1 overs to gallop to the fourth spot in the points table from seventh.

The David Warner-led now have 12 points from 13 games and need to win their last league game against table-toppers Mumbai Indians to stay in the hunt. However, their superior net run-rate could turn out to be a huge boost.

Meanwhile, Bangalore, who needed a win to seal their play-offs berth, slumped to their third consecutive defeat in the tournament but stayed at second place in the table with 14 points from 13 games. The warning bells will surely be ringing at the RCB camp.

The 121-run target was always going to be a walk in the park for SRH in a small ground like Sharjah unless RCB inflicted early damage which they failed to do.

Although the Virat Kohli-led side removed SRH skipper David Warner (8) early, they needed more wickets upfront to be in the contest.

After Warner’s dismissal, Wriddhiman Saha and Manish Pandey (26 off 19) shared a 50-run stand for the second wicket to take control of the chase.

But some brilliant spin bowling from Yuzvendra Chahal in the middle overs and over-cautious batting from Hyderabad gave RCB outside hope.

Soon, Chahal dismissed Pandey and Saha and then Kane Williamson (8) was sent back by Isuru Udana to give Bangalore a ray of hope.

But then in stepped Jason Holder, who played a 10-ball 26-run cameo towards the end to take the 2016 IPL champions over the line.

Earlier, put to bat, Bangalore were strangled by Hyderabad bowlers, who picked up wickets at regular intervals.

Young Devdutt Padikkal (5) and skipper Virat Kohli (7) departed in quick succession, falling to Sandeep Sharma (2/20). The Indian pacer now holds the record for dismissing Kohli the most number of times (7) in the IPL.

AB de Villiers made a run-a-ball 24 before perishing and then Josh Philippe (32) again got a start but failed to capitalise. He was caught by Manish Pandey off Rashid Khan (1/24) in the next over as RCB slumped to 76 for four in 11.4 overs.

RCB were done in by some incisive bowling from SRH bowlers upfront, resulting in a lack of partnerships.

RCB’s struggle with the bat can be gauged from the fact that they hit only nine boundaries and a six in their entire innings despite having the likes of Padikkal, Kohli, De Villers and Chris Morris up their ranks.

After the early blows, Washington Sundar (21) and Gurkeerat Singh (15 not out) tried to resurrect the innings with a 30-run fifth-wicket stand but they never got the momentum.

Towards the end, both Sundar and Morris departed in quick succession to add misery to RCB’s woes.

It was a clinical performance from SRH bowlers as RCB batsmen struggled to get going after the early dismissals.

Even with the ball, Jason Holder shone bright with figures of 2 for 27 from his four overs.

With his bag full of variations, Sandeep Sharma was adjudged the Man of the Match, as he picked up two crucial wickets of Padikkal and Kohli and ended the night with figures of 4-0-20-2.