IPL 2024: WATCH Kavya Maran’s Reaction After Sunrisers Hyderabad Lose Four Wickets In Powerplay Vs RCB
Hyderabad: Having rewritten the textbooks of T20 batting, Sunrisers Hyderabad have been a nightmare to opposition bowlers in this ongoing edition of Indian Premier League (IPL). On Thursday, the script was different as the Hyderabad-based franchise lost half of the side inside eight overs against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB), leaving CEO and co-owner Kavya Maran perplexed in the stands, the visuals of which went viral on social media.
One of the regular faces in the Sunrisers Hyderabad stand, Maran’s presence has always grabbed the spotlight. But against RCB, the famed SRH batting didn’t show up like everyone expected. Opting to bat first, RCB posted 206/7, riding on fifties from Virat Kohli and Rajat Patidar (50). In reply, pressure got into the SRH batters as they started by losing Travis Head in the first over itself.
RCB fans at Hyderabad are literally bullying kavya maran pat Cummins and SRH fans pic.twitter.com/pCbBF1HnJh
— Kevin (@imkevin149) April 25, 2024
Abhishek Sharma did try to keep the aggressive approach on point but fell to Yash Dayal in the latter’s first over while trying to slog over the boundary. Debutant Swapnil Singh added more misery on SRH as the left-arm off-spinner got rid of Aiden Markram and Heirich Klaasen in the fifth over to break the opposition’s backbone.
Earlier, Patidar’s explosive innings stood in stark contrast to Kohli’s measured approach. Patidar (50 off 20 balls) did the bulk of the work in his 65-run stand with Kohli (51 off 43) who was focused on giving the strike to his partner, an approach which was questioned by Sunil Gavaskar on air.
Cameron Green (37 not out off 20) and Swapnil Singh (12 off 6) came up with timely strikes in the death overs to take RCB past 200. RCB were all guns blazing in the first three overs with Kohli and Faf du Plessis (25 off 12) going hard at the SRH bowlers, including opposition skipper Pat Cummins who conceded 19 runs in his first over.
However, from 43 for no loss of the first 18 balls, RCB could only reach 61 for 1 by the end of the powerplay. Du Plessis was deceived by a slow short ball from T Natarajan to be caught by Aiden Markram at mid-off.
Will Jacks (6 off 9) went for a wild slog sweep off a flighted delivery from leg-spinner Mayank Markande but could not make contact to be bowled, leaving RCB 65 for two in seven overs. That was when Kohli and Patidar got together to take the innings forward.
The spinners were able to put pressure on the batters after the powerplay. As Kohli went for rotation of strike in this tough phase for RCB, Patidar broke the shackles by smashing Markande for four straight sixes in the 11th over.
The first two hits were down the ground before Patidar read Markande’s googly to send it over mid-wicket. The fourth and final six came off a wide and loopy delivery which Patidar dispatched over extra cover. Such was the contrast in the style of approaches that Patidar took 19 balls to reach his fifty, while IPL’s leading run-getter Kohli took 37.