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IPL 2023: Virat Kohli’s masterclass overshadows Heinrich Klaasen’s century

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Synopsis: With the back-to-back dominant performances RCB building momentum in the play-off race.

In a crunch game, chase master Virat Kohli with his century, displayed innings of the highest quality as Royal Challengers Bangalore beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by eight wickets to remain in the hunt for playoffs. Relying on textbook shots, Kohli architected one of the finest IPL innings, to the Hyderabad crowd.

Faf du Plessis and Kohli put on a 172-run opening partnership that killed any hope the hosts had after they posted a decent 186 runs on the back of a brilliant Heinrich Klaasen’s ton. This is the first time in the IPL that two batsmen from different sides scored a century in the same match.

Bangalore’s back-to-back thumpings wins means their destiny to qualify for the playoffs is in their own hands provided they defeat Gujarat Titans in the last league match at home.

Kohli-du Plessis onslaught

Chasing 187 runs the RCB openers Kohli and Du Plessis came out with intent. The duo feasted upon the SRH bowling which could not hit the right lengths. Once the powerplay was over, both the openers were swift in running between wickets to put pressure on fielders by converting ones into two which lead to mistakes from the Hyderabad fielders.

Kohli started off with a couple of boundaries to set the tone for the innings. The 34-year-old, who has been criticised in recent times for his approach, came out all guns blazing as he delivered a chasing masterclass on the night. A flick shot for six that went 103 metres was the stand-out of his innings. Other than that, the innings was filled with his trademark cover drives and pull shots.

Du Plessis at the other end continued his stunning form this season and was the first to reach his half-century ahead of Kohli. The South African played second fiddle at the start, however as he got himself in, he clobbered the bowlers. The luck also went the RCB skipper’s way as he was dropped initially by Glenn Phillips. Later in the ninth over of the innings, he pulled a short ball only to be caught by Mayank Dagar who took a stunning catch near the boundary. However, it was ruled no-ball on review as it was the second bouncer of the over.

Hyderabad skipper Markram had no answers for the onslaught from the duo. He used seven bowlers in all and none of them looked threatening. The experienced Bhuvneshwar Kumar coming on the back of a five-wicket haul was taken apart by Kohli.

Once Kohli and Du Plessis were dismissed, Glenn Maxwell and Michael Bracewell finished the game for Bangalore.

Heinrich Klaasen’s blistering ton

Earlier in the evening, Du Plessis chose to field first and it was his fellow South African who impressed the most. Klaasen started with a backfoot punch that raced away for a boundary and looked in sublime form throughout his innings. His ability to pick the length early means he was able to go after Bangalore spinners, who looked clueless at his assault. For anything which was short of length, the powerful right-hander rocked back and to pick the gap over mid-wicket or on the off-side. He reached his century smashing Harshal Patel for a six straight down the ground.

In a batting unit which has struggled throughout the season, Klaasen has been Hyderabad’s lone warrior. In the earlier games he was sent down the order to pull games out of fire. However, on Thursday he was promoted to No 4 which bore fruit for the hosts. However, there was nothing on either side of Klaasen’s innings as the rest of the batting flopped once again.

Klaasen was the glue who held SRH innings together after their openers Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi, who looked promising at the start, fell in the same over to Michael Bracewell. Klaasen first stitched a 77-run partnership with skipper Markram, who struggled with his timing once again this season, and scored a 20-ball 18. The 31-year-old, however, kept going at the other end never letting the scoring rate go down.

After Markram’s departure, both Klaasen and Brook added 75 runs for the fourth wicket at a brisk pace which allowed SRH to get to a good total on the surface. Brook looked in good touch during his cameo and played some sumptuous shots. The youngster was making a comeback after being dropped for the last three games. Klaasen became the second centurion for SRH this season after Brook who scored against Kolkata Knight Riders earlier.

Siraj’s four-run final over

While Bangalore’s attack had no answer to Klaasen and were headed for a huge total, it was home boy Mohammed Siraj who stood tall in the end. Bowling with the new ball, he bent his back and hit hard lengths and extracted bounce off the surface which Sharma and Tripathi struggled to cope with.

Once he finished his initial burst Michael Bracewell was brought into the attack and reaped the rewards by picking both the openers in the same over. Siraj then came back in the middle to put brakes on the run flow. And his final over to hard-hitting Phillips and well-set Brook silenced the home crowd. He executed full-length deliveries to perfection, not letting the batters free their arms.

Apart from Siraj, last match’s hero Wayne Parnell had a mediocre outing. Tweaker Shahbaz Ahmed was put to the sword by Klaasen. Leg-spinner Karn Sharma continued his poor run of form into the game, conceding 45 runs in three overs.





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