HYDERABAD: Virat Kohli’s century and his first-wicket century partnership with captain Faf Duplesey helped Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to a one-sided eight-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League on Thursday, beating Heinrich Klaasen’s hundred. Together kept alive the hopes of making it to the playoffs. RCB chased down the 187-run target with four balls to spare, riding on a 172-run opening partnership between Kohli (100 off 63 balls, 12 fours, four sixes) and Duplesey (71 runs, 47 balls, seven fours, and two sixes). Remaining, scored 187 runs for two wickets and won.
This partnership between Kohli and Duplessis is the biggest partnership of any wicket in the current season. Both of them broke their own record of 148 runs partnership against Mumbai Indians on 2 April. With this win, RCB has 14 points in 13 matches and the team has reached the fourth position. The Sunrisers team is already out of the playoff race. The team has just eight points from 13 matches and is in the last position. Sunrisers had earlier scored a flamboyant century from Heinrich Klaasen (104 off 51 balls, six sixes, eight fours) and 76 for the third wicket with captain Aiden Markram (18) and 76 for the fourth wicket with Harry Brook (27 not out). Scored 186 runs for five wickets with a 74-run partnership.
Michael Bracewell was the most successful bowler for RCB, taking two wickets for 13 runs. Mohammad Siraj bowled very economically and took one wicket for 17 runs in four overs. Karn Sharma looted 45 runs in three overs. Chasing the target, RCB got off to a stormy start with the duo of Duplesey and Kohli. Both scored 64 runs without losing a wicket in the powerplay. Kohli hit fours off the first two balls of Bhuvneshwar and then hit Abhishek Sharma for two fours in the next over.
Duplessy hit Karthik Tyagi for three consecutive fours. However, he got lucky on the second boundary when Glenn Phillips dropped a catch at deep midwicket. He also hit sixes and fours on successive balls from Bhuvneshwar. Kohli hit a six on debutant Nitish Kumar Reddy. In the same over, the fast bowler got Duplesey caught by Mayank Dagar at deep mid-wicket but it was no-balled by the second bouncer of the over.
Du Plessis brought up his half-century off 34 balls and his team’s hundred in the 12th over with two runs off Phillips. Kohli also crossed his personal score of 50 runs in 35 balls with four fours in the same over. Kohli collected 18 runs in the 15th over off Bhubaneswar with four fours. RCB needed 37 runs in the last five overs. Only four runs were scored in Dagar’s 16th over but in the next over, Kohli hit Natarajan for a six. 10 runs off Natarajan’s over.
RCB needed 23 runs in the last three overs. Kohli completed his sixth IPL century in 62 balls with a six over Bhuvneshwar, his first since 2019. However, he was caught by Phillips on the next ball. Duplessi was also caught by Tripathi in the next over after hitting Natarajan for a boundary.
Glenn Maxwell (05 not out) and Bracewell (04 not out) took the team to the target. Earlier, Klaasen’s dominance in the Sunriser’s innings can be gauged from the fact that while he scored 104 runs in 51 balls, the rest of the team’s batsmen could only add 82 runs in 69 balls. Du Plessis elected to bowl after winning the toss and Bracewell dismissed both openers Abhishek Sharma (11) and Rahul Tripathi (15) in the fifth over.
Abhishek caught Mahipal Lomror at cover point off a loose ball from Bracewell, while a ball later, Tripathi was caught by Harshal Patel at short fine leg, leaving the team at 28 for two. The in-form Klaasen welcomed Shahbaz Ahmed with three fours to take the side to 49 for two in the powerplay.
Klaasen continued the sharp tirade. He welcomed Karn with a six after hitting fours off Bracewell and Harshal Patel. He completed his half-century in just 24 balls with a six and a single off Karna in the next over. Sunrisers’ century was completed in the 12th over but Shahbaz bowled Markram (18) in the next over. Klaasen hit Karn for 21 runs in the 15th over with two sixes and a four, while Shahbaz scored 19 runs in the 17th over with two consecutive sixes. Brook also hit a four in this over of Shahbaz. Klaasen reached his 49-ball century in the next over with a six over Herschel. Harshal, however, bowled Klaasen on Yorker in the same over. In the last over, Siraj sent Glenn Phillips (05) to the pavilion for just four runs.
