SUNRISERS SPOIL RCB PARTY

ABD Stumbles In Last-Ball Thriller

- Manuja Veerappa

Until two weeks ago, 21-year-old Umran Malik was one among the many behind-the-scenes men of the IPL.

He was among the scores of young domestic talents who have been roped in by the Sunrisers Hyderabad as net bowlers. The Jammu and Kashmir pacer was called up as a ‘short-term Covid replacement’ for T Natarajan. But given his performance in his brief stint so far, he may well be in for the long haul in the IPL.

Against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Wednesday night, the youngster mixed pace, which hovered around an average of 150kmph, with length. If he didn’t make the batsmen dance to his tune, he surely got them hopping for cover. All this combined with the guile and experience of Bhuvneshwar Kumar ensured a last-ball thriller in which SRH took the honours with a four-run victory, courtesy the brilliance of the seasoned pacer. Both the bowlers finished with identical 1/25.

Chasing Hyderabad’s 141/7, RCB finished at 137/6 as Bhuvneshwar trumped AB de Villiers' efforts. Needing 13 runs off the last over, RCB managed a mere eight runs. The loss ended RCB's dream of making it to the top-two going into the qualifiers.