RCB fall at the final hurdle again

Sunrisers stay calm to neutralise Gayle-Kohli charge, emerge champions for the first time

 A determined all-round effort by Sunrisers Hyderabad silenced the collective voice of the capacity crowd as the Royal Challengers Bangalore finished second best for the third time in an Indian Premier League final in as many attempts.

Chasing Sunrisers’ imposing 208/7, which was a result of skipper David Warner’s swashbuckling 69 (38b, 8x4, 3x6) at the top of the order and a bruising cameo by Ben Cutting (39, 15b, 3x4, 4x6), Royal Challengers were well on course to achieving the target after a fiery start from Chris Gayle (76, 38b, 4x4, 8x6) but crumbled under pressure once they lost the big three.

Cruising at 114 for no loss in the 11th over, RCB lost Gayle but Kohli appeared in supreme control before playing on after bringing up his seventh fifty of the season. There was no Houdini act by AB de Villiers this time while Shane Watson came up short of expectations with the bat again. From 140/1 at the end of 13th over, RCB slipped to 164 for five in the next 21 balls losing all the momentum they had built.

Sachin Baby created some artificial excitement by bringing the equation to 18 off the last over but with Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowling the over it was always going to be an uphill task to knock off the required number of runs. Royal Challengers eventually finished at 200 for seven to hand Sunrisers Hyderabad a narrow eight-run win and the trophy. This was a maiden IPL triumph for Sunrisers while RCB’s quest for the title remained a dream.

Earlier, Warner continued his rich vein of form as Sunrisers captain singed RCB with his swashbuckling innings. It was a brave decision from Warner to bat first because he had to come up with a significant knock if Sunrisers were to mount a serious challenge to the hosts who have backed themselves to chase any total. Sunrisers got off to a desired start with Warner and Shikhar Dhawan off to a flying start. While they moved at seven runs per over for the first four, the fifth over by Watson, who leaked 19 runs, provided the required momentum to the innings. The sixth over from Chris Gayle cost 13 as Sunrisers coasted to an impressive 59/0 at the end of power play overs.

Desperate to break the burgeoning association, Kohli brought Yuzvendra Chahal into the attack and the move paid off as Dhawan’s attempted slog sweep ended in the safe hands of Chris Jordan. The breakthrough, however, did little to stem the flow of runs as Warner continued to find the pickets with great ease. The southpaw brought up his ninth half-century of the season in just 24 balls, the joint fastest in an IPL final.

Jordan managed to dismiss Moises Henriques but RCB knew they needed get rid of Warner lest he would take the game away from their grasp. Joined in by Yuvraj Singh (38, 23b, 4x4, 2x6), Warner kept Sunrisers on course for a 200-plus total when the reintroduction of S Arvind (2/30) did the trick for the home team. Warner’s attempt to guide a widish ball over short third-man was snapped up by Iqbal Abdulla.

While RCB were happy to see the back of Warner, Yuvraj appeared to be in his zone hitting the ball as cleanly as he has ever done. Just when the southpaw was proving to be a dangerous proposition, Jordan took care of him.

The free fall of wickets should have helped RCB contain runs but some poor bowling effort helped Sunrisers pick up easy boundaries. Ben Cutting punished the wayward attack with a bruising 39 off 15 balls (3x4, 4x6) to finish with some flourish. Watson (0/61), their best bowler of the season, ended in the same fashion as he had begun by conceding 24 runs in the final over.  Sunrisers lost four wickets in the last five overs but managed to clobber 61 runs to give themselves a fine chance to win, which they did.

score board

SUNRISERS HYDERABAD: David Warner c Abdulla b Arvind 69 (38b, 8x4, 3x6), Shikhar Dhawan c Jordan b Chahal 28 (25b, 3x4, 1x6), Moises Henriques c Chahal b Jordan 4 (5b), Yuvraj Singh c Watson b Jordan 38 (23b, 4x4, 2x6), Deepak Hooda c Kohli b Arvind 3 (6b), Ben Cutting (not out) 39 (15b, 3x4, 4x6), Naman Ojha (run out) 7 (4b, 1x4), Bipul Sharma c Chahal b Jordan 5 (3b, 1x4), Bhuvneshwar Kumar (not out) 1(1b). Extras (B-1, LB-2, W-11) 14. Total (for 7 wkts, 20 overs) 208. Fall of wickets: 1-63 (Dhawan), 2-97 (Henriques), 3-125 (Warner), 4-147 (Hooda), 5-148 (Yuvraj), 6-158 (Ojha), 7-174 (Bipul).

Bowling: S Arvind 4-0-30-2, Chris Gayle 3-0-24-0 (w-3), Shane Watson 4-0-61-0 (w-2), Yuzvendra Chahal 4-0-35-1, Iqbal Abdulla 1-0-10-0, Chris Jordan 4-0-45-3 (w-6).

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE: Chris Gayle c Bipul b Cutting 76 (38b, 4x4, 8x6), Virat Kohli b Sran 54 (35b, 5x4, 2x6), AB de Villiers c Henriques b Bipul 5 (6b), KL Rahul b Cutting 11 (9b, 1x4), Shane Watson c Henriques b Rahman 11 (9b, 1x6), Sachin Baby (not out) 18 (10b, 1x4, 1x6), Stuart Binny (run out) 9 (7b, 1x6), Chris Jordan (run out) 3 (4b), Iqbal Abdulla (not out) 4 (2b, 1x4). Extras (LB-5, W-4) 9. Total (for 7 wkts, 20 overs) 200.

Fall of wickets: 1-114 (Gayle), 2-140 (Kohli), 3-148 (de Villiers), 4-160 (Rahul), 5-164 (Watson), 6-180 (Binny), 7-194 (Jordan).

Bowling: Bhuvneshwar Kumar 4-0-25-0 (w-1), Barinder Sran 3-0-41-1 (w-2), Ben Cutting 4-0-35-2 (w-1), Mustafizur Rahman 4-0-37-1, Moises Henriques 3-0-40-0, Bipul Sharma 2-0-17-1.