Lucknow, May 24 (IANS) Eshan Malinga and Pat Cummins triggered a batting collapse for the Royal Challengers Bengaluru as they were dismissed for 189 in 20 overs in Match 65 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 at the Ekana Stadium here on Friday. Sunrisers Hyderabad thus registered a 42-run victory over the Jitesh Sharma-led side and prevented it from surging to the top spot in the points table.

In the first innings, Ishan Kishan’s unbeaten 94 saw Sunrisers Hyderabad set a massive total of 231/6 in 20 overs. For the fielding side, Romario Shepherd was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 2-14 in two overs.

In his first innings after confirming retirement from Tests, Virat Kohli (43) took the fight to the SRH bowlers. He began the proceedings with a late cut off Pat Cummins, before punching Jaydev Unadkat through wide mid-off with authority in the next over. A pull shot towards deep mid-wicket, which just evaded Nitesh Kumar Reddy, off Cummins, saw the veteran take the charge from one side, while Phil Salt (62) struggled to get going, a contrast to their regular dynamics.

The Englishman was given a lifeline when he hit a Harshal Patel full toss, which was later deemed a no-ball citing height, straight to the fielder on the boundary. He was once again caught on the subsequent free hit that followed on another full toss.

One might have thought that Kohli would take notice of Harshal’s variation and navigate through the over with caution, but he responded with two cracking boundaries through cover and over mid-off respectively, with the latter marking his 800th boundary in T20s. Salt’s first boundary of the innings, barring the leg-bye four off his helmet, came in the fifth over and brought up RCB’s fifty.

Eshan Malinga was in for a rude awakening as his introduction saw Kohli smash him for six before Salt really grew in the game with a four and a six each. With the required run rate being matched, almost uncharacteristically, Virat failed to get on top of the bounce off Harsh Dubey and sliced the ball straight to Abhishek at backward point.

Mayank Agarwal (11), brought in as an injury replacement for Devdutt Padikkal, got off the mark with a four, while Salt really took the reins of the chase. A six each off Harshal and Malinga, with another four off the latter to bring up his fifty off 27 deliveries.

Reddy ended Agarwal’s return with a good length delivery in the channel, as the batter attempted to go over extra cover but edged to Klassen. Cummins smelled blood and brought himself into the attack. After an expensive opening spell, he added to RCB’s woes as a full-length delivery saw Salt mistime it with Harshal Patel taking the catch.

Stand-in captain Jitesh Sharma (24), alongside RCB’s regular skipper Rajat Patidar (18), acting as an impact player due to a finger injury, did not let RCB’s chase falter with the former launching Cummins for a six off the first ball he faced. Incredibly enough, RCB were able to keep up with the massive run rate with 10 runs off Harshal and 16 off Undakat and reached 167/3 at the end of the 15th over before disaster struck.

Reddy clamped up the pressure and allowed only four off the next six deliveries, which resulted in Malinga completely flipping the game on its head. A yorker saw RCB try to steal a quick single, but the pacer got to the ball first and dismissed Patidar, who was left in no man’s land, with a direct hit.

Malinga continued his fielding heroics by dismissing Romario Shepherd on his first delivery by caught & bowled. The game completely seemed to slip away from RCB when Jitesh miscued a slot delivery straight to Abhinav Manohar at deep mid-wicket.

Tim David (1), who was forced off the field after pulling up in the final over in the first innings, was struggling heavily and was concerningly unable to take singles. Malinga obliged by ending his innings with a lower full toss, saw the Aussie hit it straight to long-on.

Pat Cummins bowled over Bhuvneshwar Kumar (3) before Krunal Pandya (8) ended up hitting his own stumps with his bat. Harshal Patel rounded the game up for SRH as Yash Dayal (3) was caught in the deep to dismiss the side for 189/10 to seal the 42-run victory.

Brief scores:

Sunrisers Hyderabad 231/6 in 20 overs (Ishan Kishan 94*, Abhishek Sharma 34, Aniket Verma 26; Romario Shepherd 2-14) beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru 189 all out in 20 overs (Phil Salt 62, Virat Kohli 43; Pat Cummins 3-28, Eshan Malinga 2-37) by 42 runs

–IANS

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