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In a match that produced 404 runs in 35.4 overs, a run rate of 11.41, Jacob Duffy’s magnificent 4-0-22-3 was worth its weight in gold. What made it even more commendable was that it came on the 31-year-old New Zealander’s IPL debut, for holders Royal Challengers Bengaluru against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Decisive spell
Ishan Kishan, the SRH skipper, smacked 80 off 38, but RCB hunted down 201-9 with six wickets and 26 deliveries to spare on the back of Devdutt Padikkal’s 26-ball 61 and Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 69 off 38. But it was Duffy who was the point of difference after claiming Travis Head, Abhishek Sharma and Nitish Kumar Reddy in the first five overs.
Making the most of the bounce at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Duffy picked up all three wickets with the short ball. “A hell of a way to start the campaign,” the Player of the Match gushed on Saturday night. “I wanted to bowl the hard lengths, keep the ball there. We talked about the lengths, what works here. I haven’t seen such bounce in India before as we saw here.”
RCB’s Devdutt Padikkal during his 26-ball 61
Bold call
Four overs on the bounce before he made way for impact player Padikkal wasn’t part of the initial plan, skipper Rajat Patidar revealed. “I decided that after his third over because [Heinrich] Klaasen and Ishan Kishan were batting. If we got one more wicket there, we could destroy their batting line-up. Duffy bowled beautifully; he is a specialist T20 bowler and we have a lot of confidence in him.”
Padikkal hit his first ball for six and dominated a stand of 101 with Kohli. “From Ball One, he was aggressive in the mindset and I enjoyed his batting from the dugout,” Patidar remarked. “Virat Kohli is the number one chase master. I like watching him bat — the shots he played, the way he assessed the situation…”
‘A challenging night’
The SRH bowlers had an outing to forget and Daniel Vettori, the head coach, conceded that it had been a ‘challenging’ night. “We just missed our lengths too much,” the former New Zealand captain admitted. “Duffy in particular showed the length to bowl on that surface.”
Vettori added that it was Padikkal’s ferocious innings after Phil Salt’s second-over dismissal that was decisive. “To come in, hit his first ball for six, strike at over 200, take on all bowlers, allowed Virat to get into his innings, even though he was striking quickly too,” he said. “The impetus that he showed when he came in was the real difference.”
203-4
No. of runs scored by RCB on Saturday — second-highest in a successful run chase against SRH after Kings XI Punjab’s 211-4 in 2014
15.4
No. of overs taken by RCB to go past SRH’s 201-9 — the fastest 200-plus chase in IPL
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