Hasaranga’s 5-fer hands SRH 67-run defeat

Mumbai, May 8 (FN Agency) Wanindu Hasaranga’s five-wicket haul handed Sunrisers Hyderabad their fourth consecutive loss in the IPL 2022 as SRH went down against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 67 runs here at Wankhede Stadium on Sunday. Batting first, riding on Faf du Plessis’s unbeaten 73 off 50 and Dinesh Karthik’s last over heroics RCB posted 192/3. In reply, SRH were bundled out for 125 in spite of Rahul Tripathi’s 58 off 37.

SRH had a dismal start as skipper Kane Williamson got run-out without facing a ball. Shahbaz Ahmed effected a direct hit and by the time the bails came off, Williamson’s bat was on the line. Four balls later, Glenn Maxwell sent Abhishek Sharma back for a second-ball duck to reduce SRH to 1/2. Hasaranga put another dent on SRH’s batting and he cleaned up in-form Aiden Markram for the score of 21, who tried to play the slogsweep but gave a straight catch to Virat Kohli at deep mid-wicket. RCB bowlers were all guns blazing as SRH kept on losing wickets at regular interval. Hasaranga struck again in the 13th over and removed the dangerous Nicholas Pooran to make task tougher for SRH as they were reeling on 93/4 after 13 overs. The Sri Lankan kept creating obstacle for SRH as he picked up his third in the 15th over and sent Jagadeesha Suchith packing cheaply for 2.

Josh Hazlewood joined the party with two wickets in the 16th over. He ended Tripathi’s fantastic knock on 58 and removed Kartik Tyagi for duck and the chase became almost impossible for SRH as they needed 79 off 24. Hasaranga was at his best as he completed a five-fer by sending Shashank Singh (8) and Umran Malik for a first-ball duck in the 17th over. Bangalore bowlers kept SRH silent in the next two overs before Harshal Patel trapped Bhuvneshwar Kumar to skittle out SRH for 125. For RCB, Hazlewood picked two while Maxwell and Patel got one wicket each. Earlier in the match after opting to bat first, RCB had a shocking start as Suchith struck on the very first ball of the innings and sent Kohli back for a golden duck. Bangalore posted 47/1 in the powerplay. After suffering an early blow, RCB were 93/1 half way though courtesy skipper Faf and Rajat Patidar, who piled up miseries over SRH bowlers.

In the 12th over, Faf completed his third fifty of the season in 34 balls with a fine boundary off the bowling of Tyagi. But then SRH kept Bangalore’s run-rate in check as RCB scored 44 runs off the next six overs for the loss of a wicket. Suchith came into attack in the 13th over and broke the deadly 105-run stand between Faf and Patidar by dismissing the latter for the score of 48. Maxwell and Faf stitched a 54-run third wicket partnership, which Tyagi broke in the 19th over. He started the penultimate over with a no-ball but bounced back on the next delivery as he got rid of Maxwell for the score of 33. Then, Karthik came to join the skipper and once again played the finisher’s role as he hit three sixes and a boundary off the final over to take RCB to the challenging total of 192. For SRH, Suchith picked up two wickets and Tyagi got one.