Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) clashed against the 2016 champions Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the 65th match of the Indian Premier League 2023 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Thursday, May 18. RCB have won the game by 8 wickets and are now just 1 step closer to qualifying for the playoffs.
Talking about the match, RCB won the toss and elected to bowl first. SRH once again started with another new opening pair of Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi but once again the experiment got failed as both batters departed on the score of just 28 runs inside the powerplay. However, later, the fans witnessed a cracking innings from the South African star Henrich Klassen.
He stitched a 76-run stand for the 3rd wicket with SRH skipper Aiden Markram, however, Markram could only contribute 18 runs to the partnership. However, the upcoming batter just had to bat around Klassen as he was dealing with boundaries only and smashed his maiden IPL century. He scored 104 runs off just 51 balls which included 8 fours and 6 sixes and helped the team to achieve a fighting total of 186 runs after losing 5 wickets in 20 overs. SRH were only able to take 2 wickets which were taken by Michael Bracewell in a single over.
Brilliant batting performance by RCB
Chasing the target, RCB started brilliantly and gave nothing to SRH bowlers. The two RCB openers Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli paced it brilliantly, going really hard in the powerplay to get ahead of the rate. However, when Markram introduced spinners, both the batters slowed down but after that, even the spinners weren’t spared.
Kohli was on fire and some of the shots he played left even Faf in awe with his mouth agape as he scored his 6th IPL century and scored 100 runs off just 63 balls which included 12 fours and 4 sixes and also stitched a humongous 172-run stand for the 1st wicket. Du Plessis also played an outstanding innings of 71 runs off 47 balls which included 7 fours and 2 sixes. However, the job is still not done for RCB as they will be facing Gujarat Titans (GT) in their last league match and will hope to win the contest as it will ensure their place in the playoffs.
Here’s how fans reacted:
Against finished team SRH ?? Chamiya Chokli ? out
— Catholic Qadiani (@Nightbo22172361) May 18, 2023
King Kholi ?
Congratulations RCB— Livingston (@LIVINGSTONE230) May 18, 2023
Dream for Vadapav to score 50 ? pic.twitter.com/i9A7MWusED
— Aaddy (@Ansh_0549) May 18, 2023
Against Ranji Bowlers ???
— MaheshYodha (@__M_A_H_E_E) May 18, 2023
Idhar aa naveen tujhe aam khilau pic.twitter.com/CFQvsksLoN
— Troll Cricket (@ExtraCover07) May 18, 2023
Chand pe h apun ? pic.twitter.com/28oXJJ9bFx
— Chintu ? (@HiiChintu) May 18, 2023
????? ??? ?? ????? ??????? ?
— Ritu Raj (@itsRituRaz) May 18, 2023
On a road pitch
— god rohit sharma fanclub (@rogoat45ro) May 18, 2023
— Samir ? (@SamirPubgWtf) May 18, 2023
