Being the bottom-last team in the points table, SRH won by 4 runs, ceasing  RCB to qualify for the 2nd position.

IPL 2021 never fails to surprise us. A team who went through one of their worst seasons and placed at the bottom of the table defeated RCB on Wednesday at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi. That’s how the script unfolded for Sunrisers Hyderabad, despite setting a decent target of 142, RCB failed the run chase by just four runs.

The talk was all about Virat Kohli and his teammates’ prospects of taking their points tally to 18 and presenting themselves with a wonderful chance of being one of the teams playing Qualifier I. But the Sunrisers, who had practically nothing to lose, surprised with their excellent bowling with their star spinner Rashid Khan. Kane Williamson didn’t get too many runs with the bat even after hitting a few delightful strokes, dismissing the dangerous Glenn Maxwell was indeed an act of brilliance. On a pitch where other batsmen didn’t seem too comfortable, Williamson made 31 of 29 deliveries and was awarded the player of the match. Though Bangalore’s Harshal Patel (3/33) finished with the most wickets from the match, the bowler who drew the most attention was 21-year-old Umran Malik.

RCB can still finish with 18 points and hope to finish second if they win their final game of the league phase. But for that to happen, CSK need to lose against Punjab Kings on Thursday, while RCB themselves have to win by a pretty big margin against table-toppers Dehi Capitals in Dubai on Friday. And that certainly won’t be an easy task for the Kohli brigade.