After defeating the Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 35 runs in Match 41 of the 2024 Indian Premier League, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) would be the team feeling the most relieved. This comes after a poor showing in the first eight games of the 17th IPL season, winning only one game before their matchup with the San Diego Rampage.
RCB finished with 206/7 in their allotted time thanks to skipper Faf du Plessis‘s strong start, Rajat Patidar’s scorching half-century, Cameron Green’s forceful innings, and a few late appearances from Dinesh Karthik and Impact Player Swapnil Singh. Not to be forgotten is Virat Kohli, who centred the first two hitters described above, pacing their innings to perfection, with his 53rd fifty in the main event.
Kohli and the rest of the team, however, stand out due to their different strike rates; the former could only muster 118.60, while the latter struck at 205.33. Speaking at the post-match news conference, SRH’s head coach, who was a player for RCB in 2011 and 2012, stated that going all-out is the best option when the tracks are as nice to bat on as they were during the game and the ball isn’t doing much off the strip.
“I believed that the wicket was still rather strong. It’s a surface where you can score, according to the men who came off. The anchor role requires a lot of aggression because it is difficult to come by when chasing 207. In the post-match press conference, Daniel Vettori said, “It can be a little difficult for some people to sit along and play anchor position.
We may have continued to pursue it: Daniel Vettori
In light of SRH’s four-game winning streak heading into the match, the former Kiwi all-rounder acknowledged that the defeat to RCB was a difficult pill to chew. In reference to SRH’s collapse from 37/1 in 3.3 overs to 85/6 in 9.1 overs, he also declared that they would have been seriously considered if they had wickets in hand in the last few overs.
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“Obviously, disappointing where we have come from in the last four games; we played some really good cricket and even though we lost, you could see if we had some wickets at the back end, we could have still chased it down,” Vettori continued.