The wait is over for all the cricket lovers around the world as the tenth edition of Indian Premier League (IPL) has kicked off.
The defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad trashed last season’s runner-ups Royal Challengers Bangalore in an intense match.
RCB won the toss and chose to field first. Without AB de Villiers, Virat Kohli and KL Rahul, the RCB were definitely under pressure.
SRH skipper David Warner failed to make an impact as he had to return the pavilion after scoring just two boundaries and one six. Shikhar Dhawan scored 40 off 31 balls. Yuvraj Singh slammed his fastest IPL half-century as he scored 62 off 27 balls. Moises Henriques gave a stability to the team as he scored 50 off 37 balls. SRH had impressive 207 on the scoreboard.
RCB took very good lead in the powerplay by scoring 54 runs, but the two openers Chris Gayle and Mandeep Singh left the crease within six balls of each other. Later, Travis Head and Kedar Jadhav put on a half-century stand as RCB stayed abreast of the run-rate
Jadhav had motored along to 30 off 15 when he got run-out with an accurate direct hit by Ben Cutting from fine-leg. With all the big-name absentees in the RCB middle-order, there was no coming back from there for the visitors.
RCB lost all its wickets and scored 174 runs by the end of the innings with two balls left.
RCB will head home to the comforts of the Chinnaswamy Stadium, where they'll take on a Delhi Daredevils. AB de Villiers is expected to be fit for that game.
SRH, on the other hand, will stay back in Hyderabad, where they'll welcome Gujarat Lions.
AMandeep
