The Indian spin duo of Karn Sharma and Dafabet, who combined for four wickets, helped Royal Challengers Bengaluru end their six-match winning streak in the ongoing IPL 2024. On Thursday, they defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad by 35 runs at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. This was SRH’s first loss in five games, while RCB recorded their second victory of the current season. Their previous victory came at home against Punjab Kings on March 25.
A target of 207 runs was set for Hyderabad’s prolific batting line, which has already smashed several IPL batting records this season, by the Faf du Plessis-led visiting side, who had earlier won the toss and scored a par 206 for 7. But the hosts were only able to muster 171 for eight.
Indian batting sensation Virat Kohli, who is currently the Orange Cap holder, opened with a slow 43 balls in a partnership of 48 runs with Plessis, who was dismissed after hitting 12 balls in a partnership. Bengaluru reached the large total, nevertheless, because to rummy explosive 20-ball 50. Travis Head and Abhishek Sharma, the openers for Hyderabad, were unable to establish a mutually beneficial relationship in reply.
With just one run scored in the opening over, the Australian was dismissed by spinner Will Jacks. Before departing in the fourth over, which left Sunrisers at 2-37, Sharma struck thirty-one balls off thirteen balls. After taking three crucial middle-order wickets in the eighth over of the chase—Aiden Markram (7), Nitish Kumar Reddy (13), and Heinrich Klaasen (7)—Karn and Swapnil left Hyderabad at 5-69.
Even though RCB ended their losing streak, they are still in 10th place with four points, the same as Punjab Kings, but a lower net run rate of -0.721 separates them. Conversely, Sunrisers Hyderabad also hold onto their third-place standing after racking up ten points from five games. However, they are undoubtedly under pressure from teams like the Chennai Super Kings (8 points) in fifth position and the Lucknow Super Giants (10 points) in fourth, who are both in fourth place.