Manish Pandey exudes sportsmanship following loss to RCB

The league stages of IPL 2018 are almost over and we haven’t yet got the top four contenders for the title. It looks like the league will have the last match finish to determine the remaining two teams who will make it to the knockouts. Five teams are in the hunt for two spots which shows the fierce competition in the tournament. Teams cannot afford to make mistakes now as there is no margin of error at this time of the season.

The Sunrisers Hyderabad have been the team to beat in IPL 2018. Their bowlers have defended the lowest of totals while their batsmen are coming to the party of late. But the team has lost the winning momentum as they were defeated in their last two games. SRH lost to RCB on Thursday by 14 runs despite standout performances from Kane Williamson and Manish Pandey.

A roller coaster day

Manish Pandey hasn’t looked in great touch this IPL. He did not have the numbers to back his ability. Pandey started slowly against RCB in a gigantic chase but quickly picked up the pace to give the SRH fans a ray of hope. But a couple of good overs at the death ensured that their efforts went in vain. It was a night where simple catches were dropped and blinders were taken.

Pandey tweeted: “Another classic game last night, unfortunate to have fallen short !!! Batting of the highest Quality from both teams & to top it off Blinders by SuperMan @ABdeVilliers17 & our very own Magician @rashidkhan_19.”

Another classic game last night, unfortunate to have fallen short !!! Batting of the highest Quality from both teams & to top it off Blinders by SuperMan @ABdeVilliers17 & our very own Magician @rashidkhan_19 ???

— Manish Pandey (@im_manishpandey) May 18, 2018

Rashid Khan took a superb one-handed catch to dismiss Colin de Grandhomme while AB de Villiers bettered Rashid’s effort with the catch of Alex Hales. RCB had posted 218 runs with de Villiers and Moeen Ali playing vital knocks. Colin de Grandhomme and Sarfaraz Khan chipped in with a few boundaries to ensure an above par score. SRH were in the game until the 17th over when Tim Southee bowled excellent tramline yorkers to keep the required run rate creeping up. In the end, Kohli and co prevailed over the table toppers by 14 runs.

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