STATS HIGHLIGHTS
Follow UsIt was a rather dull Saturday, considering how the matches have gone by. At least, the first match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Gujarat Titans had some entertaining moments. But the second match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad, was as pale as Virat Kohli’s form.
A monumental day in Sunrisers' IPL journey
After suffering two defeats in their first two matches, along with the toss, Kane Williamson led Hyderabad have made a habit of winning matches.
With four wins in four matches, Hyderabad extended their win count after their bowlers reduced the Bangalore franchise to a paltry total of 68. In the IPL, this is the lowest score for a team against Hyderabad.
In reply, Hyderabad openers Abhishek Sharma and Williamson, amassed 56 runs without being separated, their highest score in this phase this season. Further, they took another two overs to reach the target with nine wickets in hand and 72 balls to spare. Hence, registering their largest win in the IPL.
23rd, a cursed date for Bangalore
In 2013, on this date, after a few minutes of rain at the start, all it rained were sixes from Chris Gayle. In that match, Bangalore against the now-defunct Pune Warriors India, smashed 263 runs, the highest total in the IPL.
But, four years later, the same Bangalore team in 2017, suffered an all-time IPL low when they succumbed to a total of 49 against Kolkata at Eden Gardens. Five years later, on the same date, the Bangalore-based franchise registered their lowest first innings total and their second lowest overall. To add salt to injury, they went through their biggest defeat in the IPL, in terms of balls remaining. Interestingly, their third lowest total in the IPL, 70 against Chennai in 2019, also came on the 23rd, but in March.
First innings lows
In the IPL, the Bangalore franchise is known for its batting prowess. However, they feature on the flipside of the batting as well way too often. This was the eighth instance of them being all-out or play the full 20 overs and score less than 100. Only Delhi Capitals have suffered more (10).
Their score of 68 against Hyderabad in Match 36 was their lowest first innings total in the IPL. Overall, it is the second lowest first innings total in the IPL. To their worst, in the top five lowest first innings score, Bangalore have featured three times.
Russell’s lone battle in vain
In the first match of the double header Saturday, Gujarat were up against Andre Russell, more than Kolkata. The West Indian all-rounder is known as their last over specialist in the last few years for Kolkata. He bowls either two overs or one over in the innings and an over in the 20th is guaranteed most of the time.
In his match against Gujarat, Russell became the first bowler in the IPL to pick up a four-wicket haul in a one-over spell in an innings. To add more, he also became the first bowler to bag four wickets in the 20th over of an innings in the IPL.
With the bat, despite failures from the top order, Russell kept them in the hunt till the last over. His 25-ball 46 runs cameo consisted of six sixes and one boundary. En route his innings, Russell registered his 1000th boundary in T20s when he hit a four of Yash Dayal. He took just 3987 balls to reach the landmark of 1000 boundaries, the fastest in terms of balls in T20s. Overall, he has hit 1006 boundaries (462 – 4s and 544 – sixes).
Rashid embarks on another record
The wily leg-spinner is just 23 years and Rashid Khan already has tons of records to his name in the bowling department. In his match against Kolkata, Rashid registered one more IPL record.
With the wicket of Venkatesh Iyer in the 14th over, Rashid became the 17th bowler overall and the eighth spinner in the IPL to bag 100 wickets. Among the spinners, the 83 innings took by him to reach the landmark is the joint quickest. Overall, he is the joint third quickest.
Marco Jansen spitting fire
It was a collective performance from the Sunrisers bowlers that helped them restrict Bangalore to 68. But, Jansen was the bowler who gave them the head start in the powerplay when he removed Bangalore’s top three in the second over. In the IPL, he became the fifth bowler to pick up three wickets in one over inside the first six overs.
Though he went wicket-less in his remaining two overs inside the first six, Jansen’s spell of 3/18 had registered a record for Hyderabad in the IPL.
Only two other Hyderabad bowlers had registered a three-wicket spell in the powerplay in the IPL. Interestingly, including today, two of them came against Bangalore. Mohammad Nabi in 2019 had figures of 3/10 in three overs inside the powerplay against Bangalore.
Umran Malik accumulating the dots
The speedster is slowly rising up the ranks. After delivering the finishing blows against Punjab Kings in his previous match, Malik in this match, kept a check on the runs in his four overs by piling up the dots.
When Malik was introduced as the fifth bowler, Bangalore were down with four wickets and most of the experienced batsmen were back in the hut. Using his raw pace, Malik troubled the remaining inexperienced batsmen of Bangalore by piling up the dot balls. He bowled 19 dot balls in total, which is the most for a Hyderabad bowler in an innings in the IPL.
Lean patch turning into a nightmare for Kohli
The talk of the town has been Virat Kohli’s lean patch. To be frank, in his cricketing career, Kohli has never looked so pale and ineffective. After suffering a first ball duck against Lucknow Super Giants in his previous match, Kohli once again suffered the same fate against Hyderabad. In the past, Kohli had never suffered back-to-back ducks in the IPL. In fact, never in his T20 career, ODI career and Test career has he suffered this fate.
