New Delhi, May 18: Royal Challengers Bangalore's resurgence continued as they beat table-toppers Sunrisers Hyderabad by 14 runs in their must-win Indian Premier League match at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Thursday. The victory kept RCB's playoffs hopes alive as they jumped to fifth in the standings with 12 points from 13 games.
Kane Williamson (81 off 42 balls) and Manish Pandey (62* off 38) added an impressive 135 runs for the third wicket but failed to take Sunrisers home. The visitors suffered only their fourth defeat of the season from 13 matches as they remained at the top of the points table.
Needing 20 off six balls, Sunrisers managed just five runs off Mohammed Siraj to end at 204/3 after the home side set a massive 219-run target. Williamson smacked five sixes and seven fours during his knock, while Pandey hit couple of sixes and seven boundaries and remained unbeaten.
Shikhar Dhawan and Alex Hales gave Sunrisers a good start in their run chase as they took the total to 47/0 after first five overs. The duo dealt in sixes, with Hales hitting three maximums and Dhawan two by then.
But Yuzvendra Chahal ended the stand by dismissing Dhawan (18) in the first ball of the sixth over. Moeen Ali gave Sunrisers a big blow when he dismissed Hales (37) in the 8th over to reduce Sunrisers to 64/2.
Williamson kept Sunrisers in hunt as he took the score to 91/2 at the halfway mark. The New Zealander was able to score boundaries almost every over as he reached his fifty off 28 balls. It was eighth half-century of the season for the Sunrisers skipper.
Williamson along with Manish Pandey clobbered 22 runs off Colin de Grandhomme in the 15th over to take Sunrisers to 152/2. They brought up hundred-run stand in the next over and made the equation 55 off final four overs.
Tim Southee made the conditions tougher for the visitors by conceding just six runs in the 17th over. Pandey smacked a six and a four off Siraj to take the score to 184/2, which changed the equation to 35 off 12 balls.
Pandey then hit three boundaries off Southee to score 15 in the penultimate over as Sunrisers needed 20 off the final over.
Earlier, AB de Villiers and Moeen Ali smashed quickfire half-centuries to propel RCB to an imposing 218/6.
Sent into bat, De Villiers (69 off 39 balls) and Ali (65 off 34) overcame a bad start to stitch 107 runs off just 57 balls for the third wicket to set the platform for RCB's total.
Afghanistan's leg-spinner Rashid Khan once again shone bright with the ball for Sunrisers with figures of 3/27 from his four over.
Sunrisers reduced RCB to 38/2 inside five overs. Sandeep Sharma (1/40) struck the first blow with the last ball of the opening over, removing Parthiv Patel caught by Siddharth Kaul at third man boundary.
De Villiers then got into the act for RCB, hitting some exquisite boundaries off Shakib Al Hasan and Sandeep before Rashid cleaned up skipper Virat Kohli (12) with a googly in the fifth over.
In the 8th over, Ali smashed Basil Thampi for consecutive sixes to give momentum to RCB's innings.
De Villiers brought up his fifty off 32 balls with two consecutive boundaries off Kaul (2/44) in the 12th over and then Ali followed suit notching up his maiden IPL half-century off 25 balls with a four off Thampi in the next over.
But just when it seemed the duo would run away with their power-hitting, Rashid struck twin blows in the 15th over by removing both the set batsmen. De Villiers struck as many as 12 fours and one six, while Ali's innings was laced with two boundaries and six hits over the fence.
Thereafter, Colin de Grandhomme used his brute power to score 40 off just 17 balls while Sarfaraz Khan remained unbeaten on 22 off 8 balls to provide the late impetus to RCB's innings.
It turned out to be a forgettable day for Thampi as he conceded the most runs by a bowler in an innings in the history of IPL. He leaked 70 runs from his four overs.
Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 218/6 (AB de Villiers 69; Rashid Khan 3/27) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 204/3 (Kane Williamson 81; Yuzvendra Chahal 1/28) by 14 runs.
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