IPL 2020: Match 3 – SRH vs RCB – Who Said What

The ‘South Indian Derby’, the ‘Clash of the IT Hubs’ – the encounter between the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) and the Royal Challengers (RCB) is always an intense one. This game was also nothing less and completely reached the expectations. An AB de Villiers special, combined with the efforts from Devdutt Padikkal, helped RCB get home right at the start of the season.

Given that they lost six games in a row last year, this would have come as a huge sigh of relief. The Sunrisers had complete control of the game for most of the time. Even though RCB got off to a flyer with the bat, they managed to pull things back. Despite losing David Warner early in the chase, the likes of Jonny Bairstow and Manish Pandey steadied the ship. At one stage, it also seemed as if they’d cruise over the winning line comfortably.

The dramatic SRH collapse

Chasing 164 runs, the SRH team was comfortably placed at 121/2 in the 16th over. Their batsmen got a few lives by then. Jonny Bairstow was well-set and was batting on 61. That is when Yuzvendra Chahal weaved his magic. He dismissed the English cricketer and Vijay Shankar off consecutive deliveries. As soon as this happened, the weak SRH middle-order hit the panic button.

They kept crumbling one after another and the injury to Mitchell Marsh only added to their woes. From 121/2, they were brought down to 135/6 and then to 143/9. Ultimately, SRH was bowled out for 153 runs and conceded RCB a 10-run win. Chahal was the game-changer with three wickets with the ball.

AB de Villiers said

Big surprise for me! [His innings]. It’s a nice change to get on the right side of a close game early on in the season. We worked very hard for the win. It’s a great start for us and hopefully a good sign of things to come. I surprised myself to be honest. We had a competitive game in South africa, which was great, gave me a little bit of confidence.

As a 36-year-old to come here, having not played a lot of cricket, in the middle of some talented youngsters – was a pleasing start. Very happy with the basics, seems to be in place. [Padikkal] It’s a tough thing to arrive at the IPL, they don’t come more tough than that. The talent is just incredible. Every year there are 19 and 20 year olds coming through looking like they’ve played international cricket for a long time.

Yuzvendra Chahal, the Man of the Match, said

When I bowled my first over, I realized I need to bowl stump-to-stump line and backed myself. At one point they were batting well and I was trying to bowl loopy ones and wide of the reach which helped in building pressure. When I bowled to Pandey, I was trying to outside off-stump and with Bairstow I bowled little fuller and 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 and really brilliant.

David Warner, the SRH captain, said

Yeah look, can’t remember (when) I was out like that. It was a bizzare game for us. Obviously RCB played well here to get across the line. A lot of courage for Mitch to walk out. Doesn’t look great, he can’t put any weight on his leg. We always knew that they had to get some bowlers out at the end.

Probably that last over of Chahal was the turning point there. We’ve obviously go back to the drawing board. We can’t fix what happened tonight. Everyone knows that [to play Chahal out at that point], it is a talking point, but the guys don’t need reminding.

Virat Kohli, the RCB captain, said

It’s amazing to be honest. Last time we were only the other side of the result, 6-nil. Nice to be 1-nil. We kept our composure and Yuzi comes in and completely changes the game for us. Not many spinners got much out of the pitch, but tonight he showed that you can turn it if you have it in your wrists. He turned the game.

To be honest, we started really well. Devdutt was really good on debut, Finchy as well. But when you lose two in two, you have to consolidate. If not for two in two, you were looking at maybe 10-20 runs more. In the past if we had 43 off 5, you’d see the shoulders dropping but the guys kept believing, kept attacking. Someone like Washy not bowling enough and a part-timer doing it are good signs.