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Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) started their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 campaign on a victorious note as they defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by ten wickets on Monday (September 21). This was also the first instance since 2016 where the Challengers have won their season-opener.
Batting first, Devdutt Padikkal (56 off 42) put on a stellar show of flair and flamboyance, anchoring the innings and piercing the gap with ease that looked way beyond his age. He also became the first Indian to score a half-century on an IPL debut.
A late blitzkrieg from AB de Villiers (51 off 30 deliveries) propelled RCB to a challenging total of 163/5 in twenty overs.
Chahal weaves a web around SRH batsmen
With scoreboard flashing 121-2 in the 16th over, the game was almost in SRH’s favour.
But another twist in the tale beckon as Yuzvendra Chahal scalped both Bairstow and Vijay Shankar off consecutive deliveries to bring RCB back in the game.
Bairstow’s dismissal was a turning point in the game. From 121-2 at one stage, the Sunrisers suffered a dramatic collapse and bundled out for 153 with two balls to spare.
Chahal had now revealed that it was Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers who advised him to go for a wrong-un, instead of his stock delivery to Shankar.
“When I bowled to Pandey I was trying to outside off-stump with that field but decided to bowl within the stumps because it is difficult to hit through the leg-side and with Bairstow I bowled little fuller and outside leg so that it becomes tough for him to target the leg-side with the turn away,” said the 30-year-old in a post-match conference.
“When Vijay came Virat and AB told me to go for a googly and it worked. I put some mud on my hands to make sure there is no dew,” concluded Chahal.
The leg-spinner conceded just 18 runs from his allotted quota of four overs and picked up three wickets as well. Chahal was adjudged as the ‘Player of the Match’ for his impressive performance.
