The title defence of Royal Challengers Bengaluru began on an emphatic note, with the merciless destruction of Sunrisers Hyderabad. The target of 202, propelled by Ishan Kishan’s 80, was overhauled in merely 15.4 overs for the loss of four wickets. Devdutt Padikkal set the tone with an imperious 61 before Virat Kohli wrapped up the chase with an upper-cut four and an unconquered 69.
The stroke the spectators would take home would be Kohli’s straight six off Eshan Malinga in the seventh over. A throwback shot, it whistled into the night air, and for a moment it seemed as though it would never land. The man everyone wanted to watch bat essayed a few other dazzling strokes that reminded that the light has not deserted him. But the night truly belonged to Devdutt Padikkal, in how he laid the base of the chase with a knock of pure splendour.
Padikkal, tall and nimble, talks the language of languidness. He glides into his strokes. The first ball he faced, he just stood tall and let his hands through a ball straying into his pads. The ball soared into the stands over backward square leg. In the 25 balls he faced, the left-hander effectively snatched away the game, shellacking 61 runs. When he perished in the ninth over, RCB were purring at 110 for 2.
The flick was his favourite stroke. Sometimes, he hung back and waited on the back foot to flick; sometimes he took a few steps down the track, a la Matthew Hayden, and whirl his wrists. On Saturday, he got everything from the sweet spot. The SRH bowling was insipid, lacking penetration and imagination, and Padikkal took full toll.
The bowlers attacked his off-stump or wide of it, and he would unlock his graceful drives. England left-arm seamer David Payne suffered at his hands. Padikkal thundered a full ball over deep midwicket, on bended knees. He pulled the next ball, which was more good length than short. The last ball of the over, he charged down and swirled it over mid-wicket.
SRH froze. They merely shuffled the bowlers and rejigged the field. Padikkal still found the gaps. Captain Ishan Kishan’s gloves seemed dipped in butter. Everything slipped out of them. In a game where most batsmen wield the bat like a bludgeon, Padikkal plays like a harp, as though he doesn’t want to harm the leather.
Rajat Patidar and Kohli too professed non-violence, leaning on timing rather than power. The RCB skipper sped away to 31 off 12 balls. When he departed, RCB were merely 33 runs away from an emphatic win, with 52 balls in the bank.
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Duffy’s note-perfect riffs
Jacob Duffy was the storm SRH did not see coming. A seamer from a village of 5,000-odd residents in New Zealand’s South Island, his virtues are modest. He is neither express nor possesses a vast range of variations. He is accurate, operates in the hard-good length bandwidth, creates bounce by pounding the deck, and maximises the barest benefits from the surface, which was dual-bounced at the start. Mostly, he bowls with an upright seam, producing marginal movement either way; occasionally, he switches to a scrambled seam, especially when the ball gets older.
All three of his wickets came from short-length balls. Abhishek Sharma was rushed into the pull; the short ball to Travis Head did not rear up as viciously, but skidded on to meet Duffy’s desired end; Nitish Kumar Reddy flailed at a short ball. All were gleaned from the Josh Hazlewood book of deception.
Duffy is no Hazlewood, not blessed with his steep height or the wrists. But the methods are similar, and the Kiwi is acutely aware of his shortcomings. He did not attempt too many slower balls or yorkers, or tried to bowl fast. His nerves did not jangle on his IPL debut. He offered the batsmen little wriggle room, nothing full to drive, nothing short to cut or pull, no length to target the cow corner. Duffy logged in 13 dot balls; conceded only a six and four apiece as RCB did not miss Hazlewood.
There were times during his off-colour T20 World Cup when the RCB tragic would have wondered whether his purchase would prove wasteful, but on his debut itself, he has proved his mettle.
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Duffy and Bhuvneshwar Kumar would form a formidable pair, but RCB’s concern would be the profligacy of the rest. The opening pair leaked only 53 runs in eight overs, but the rest bled 146 in their 12 overs. The damage would have been heightened but for Phil Salt’s brace of acrobatic catches to first eject Heinrich Klaasen, breaking a 97-run association, and Kishan at the cusp of the death overs.
SRH’s axis was Kishan’s 80. He chose the bowlers to hit wisely. Three of his five sixes were off a frazzled Abhinandan Singh; the other two off Krunal Pandya.
Brief scores: Sunrisers Hyderabad 201/9 in 20 overs (Ishan Kishan 80, Aniket Verma 43; Jacob Duffy 3/22, Romario Shepherd 3/54) lost to Royal Challengers Bengaluru 203/4 in 15.4 overs (Virat Kohli 69 not out, Devdutt Padikkal 61; David Payne 2/35) by six wickets
