Disaster struck SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Dubai as a two-wicket over by Yuzvendra Chahal, who accounted for a well-set Jonny Bairstow (61 off 43) and Vijay Shankar (0), followed by freak dismissals of youngsters Priyam Garg (12) and Abhishek Sharma (7) derailed what looked an easy chase for the 2016 champions and handed Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) a 10-run victory in Match 3 of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 on September 21. Defending 164, RCB looked out of the match when Bairstow and Manish Pandey (34) added 71 runs for the second wicket. However, a slide of 8/32 – 121/2 to 153 all out – in the last five overs meant SunRisers were bowled out in the 20th over.
Navdeep Saini returned 2/25, Shivam Dube got 2/15 while Chahal remained the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/18 from four overs.
Opener Bairstow tore into the RCB attack after David Warner (6) was run out at the non-striker's end as a straight drive from Bairstow saw the ball ricochet off Umesh Yadav's outstretched hand and deflect on to the stumps.
The Englishman took a special liking to Yadav as the pacer went astray with his lines and was taken for boundaries behind square on the leg side and a ramp shot for six over the fine leg.
Manish, too, took Umesh for back-to-back fours in the Powerplay and took Washington Sundar for a 91-meter six after the field restrictions eased.
Bairstow enjoyed spates of luck along the way, though, as he was dropped at cover by Aaron Finch off Navdeep Saini and then at the wide midwicket boundary by Dale Steyn, who could not pick the ball off the Dubai night sky.
The right-hander brought up his 50 – his third in the IPL – in the 14th over and with SRH cruising at 121/2, Kohli had to bring back Steyn in the 15th as a last throw of the dice. That move didn't work but the next over by Chahal turned out to be the game-changer.
He bowled Bairstow as the latter looked to pull a ball that didn't turn and stayed low, and on the very next ball the wily leg spinner bamboozled Shankar with a googly that went through the gate.
Earlier, AB de Villiers (51 off 30) led the charge for RCB with a fluid knock as they finished 163/5. He took his time in the beginning but as the death overs commenced, De Villiers unleashed his full fury smashing Sandeep Sharma for back-to-back sixes in the 19th over and hitting Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a boundary over the bowler's head.
But Kumar pulled things back in the final over by giving away just three more runs after the De Villiers boundary on the first ball, helped along by two run outs – De Villiers and Shivam Dubey – as the batsmen perished in attempts to steal extra runs.
RCB were given a great start by Devdutt Padikkal (56) and Aaron Finch (29) as the openers added 90 runs in 11 overs for the first wicket.
Padikkal was castled by Vijay Shankar before Finch missed a straight ball from Abhishek Sharma to be adjudged leg before wicket.
Kohli (14) didn't last long as he failed to clear the midwicket boundary off a slower delivery by T Natarajan and holed out to Rashid Khan.
RCB did well to keep Rashid wicketless (0/31) even as Hyderabad were a bowler short with Mitchell Marsh retiring hurt after four balls due to an ankle injury.
Marsh came out to bat at the fall of the eighth wicket but he was dismissed first-ball. He limped off the field in the company of the team physio.