A spectacular batting display followed by disciplined bowling helped Royal Challengers Bangalore to a commanding win over Sunrisers Hyderabad in their first game of the VIVO IPL 2016. Asked to bat first, the home team muscled their way to a massive 227/4 after AB de Villiers’ 82 and Virat Kohli’s 75 dazzled the home crowd with a majestic 157-run stand, reports iplt20.com.
The Sunrisers were restricted to 182-6. Their chase largely depended on captain David Warner after Shikhar Dhawan was castled on in the third over. Warner raced to his fifty in just 21 balls but once he was removed by Shane Watson, RCB had the game in their grasp. The Sunrisers had lost half the side for just 101 runs and eventually fell 45 runs short of target.
Earlier, Chris Gayle, once again failed against the Orange brigade. Bhuvneshwar Kumar got the big wicket off just the second legal delivery he bowled.
However, RCB recovered quickly with Kohli and de Villiers taking on the bowlers. AB de Villiers raised his fifty off just 26 balls while Kohli brought up his fifty in 40 balls. Making his debut for the RCB, Watson, the costliest buy at the auction, signaled his arrival with three consecutive sixes off Sharma. Bangladesh sensation Mustafizur Rahman took the wickets of de Villiers and Watson on 18th over with 183 on board.
Rookie Sarfaraz Khan managed to overshadow everyone with a spectacular display of T20 batting. He made the experienced Bhuvneshwar looked ordinary after bludgeoning him four boundaries and one six in the penultimate over and finished unbeaten on 35 from just 10 balls. Mustafizur Rahman was the only silver lining for the visitors, as he gave away just 26 from his four overs.
Man of the Match: AB de Villiers for his 82 off 42 balls.