Abu Dhabi: Jason Holder and T Natarajan starred with the ball as Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) restricted Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to 131/7 in the allotted 20 overs here at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Friday.
Holder picked three while Natarajan scalped two wickets as no batsmen except AB de Villiers got going for RCB.
Put in to bat first, RCB suffered an early jolt as skipper Virat Kohli was dismissed in the very second over by Jason Holder.
RCB’s start worsened as Holder dismissed Devdutt Padikkal in the fourth over. A couple of wickets early in the innings saw Aaron Finch and AB de Villiers playing a sluggish knock to revamp the game.
The Kohli-led side made just 32 runs in the powerplay as SRH looked in full control. Finch and De Villiers stitched a 41-run stand before Shahbaz Nadeem dismissed the former in the 11th over as RCB got reduced to 56/3.
Moeen Ali, who came in to bat at number five, got run out on the first ball as RCB reeled on 62/4.
De Villiers and Shivam Dube then rebuilt the RCB’s innings as the South African cricketer hit timely boundaries without playing risky shots. However, Shivam struggled to time the ball and eventually got dismissed by Holder in the 16th over.
Meanwhile, De Villiers continued his fine form and smashed his 38 IPL half-century. However, a perfect yorker from T Natarajan ended De Villiers’ stint at the crease in 18th over.
In the end, RCB were only able to score 131 runs in their allotted 20 overs.
Brief scores:
RCB 131/7 [Aaron Finch 32(30), AB de Villiers 56(43), Jason Holder 25-3, T Natarajan 33-2]