Pat Cummins-led Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) lost to Faf du Plessis-led Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the 41st match of the Indian Premier League 2024 (IPL 2024) at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium on Thursday, April 25. . Uppal, Hyderabad.
Sunrisers Hyderabad were invited to bowl first of the match as RCB did not want to face the home team’s powerplay blitzkrieg. SRH didn’t start well with the ball as Faf du Plessis and Virat Kohli took the bowlers to the cleaners.
After a flying start, Virat Kohli slowed down considerably but Rajat Patidar’s 19-ball fifty kept the run rate under control. Kohli was dismissed for a 43-ball 51 and Patidar retired after scoring a 20-ball 50. The SRH bowlers did well in the middle overs but they were poor at the death as Cameron Green batted well and along with other batters took RCB to a total of 206 for 7. Jaydev Unadkat was the best player for SRH in the bowling department , when he took 3 wickets for 30 runs in his 100th IPL game.
Chasing the goal, SRH had a nightmarish start as they lost their in-form opener Travis Head in the first over and Abhishek Sharma, Aiden Markram and Heinrich Klaasen in the powerplay. The team’s middle and lower order batters tried to take the game to depth but were eventually restricted to 171/8 to hand RCB a 35-run win.
After the game, Pat Cummins said they conceded a few extra runs with the ball and were also below par with the bat. Pat Cummins explained:
“Not an ideal evening. Only a few outscored the ball and unfortunately lost a few wickets during our innings. We wanted to bat first, it seems to work for us. Before the last few wins, we thought we were a bowl first team. Didn’t go our way.
Pat Cummins revealed he talks to the team after the wins and coach Daniel Vettori does the job after the losses. Pat Cummins said:
“(Message to the group) I speak after wins, Dan (Vettori) speaks after defeats. The boys did really well, it’s T20 cricket, you’re not going to win every game. Don’t dwell on it too long.” “
Pat Cummins further said that the ultra-aggressive approach of their batting unit is their strength and it won’t win them every game, but it is the way forward for them. Pat Cummins said:
“(High-risk, high-reward approach with the bat) I think that’s our strength. It won’t work in every game. One or two games where things didn’t go the way we wanted at the beginning, we still managed to get a good result.” Overall, I still think this is the way forward for our boys.
Batters do heavy work for Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the Indian Premier League 2024
Sunrisers Hyderabad have been a resoundingly dominant team in the 2024 Indian Premier League, breaking Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s long-standing record of highest IPL total three times in their first seven games.
SRH batters were absolutely fearless and did the heavy lifting to make up for their bowling deficiencies. Before the match against RCB, SRH recorded scores of 208/7, 277/3, 162/8, 165/5, 182/9, 287/3 and 266/7 in their first seven matches.
In these games, the SRH bowlers were unconvincing on most occasions as the former IPL champions conceded the following scores: 208/7, 246/5, 168/3, 166/4, 180/6, 262/7 and 199 Kolkata Knight Riders, Mumbai Indians, Gujarat Titans, Chennai Super Kings, Punjab Kings, Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Delhi Capitals.