Dubai: Devdutt Padikkal and AB de Villiers scored brilliant half-centuries as the Royal Challengers Bangalore set a 164-run target for SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) in their opening game of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Dubai International Stadium on Monday.
Put into bat, the RCB were off to a flying start as openers Padikkal and Aaron Finch scored 53 runs in the first six overs of powerplay. Left-handed Padikkal in particular displayed explosive batting skills as he used almost every opportunity to pick up boundaries and was more aggressive of the two.
The pair continued with its run-scoring as they took the team’s score to 86/0 at the end of 10 overs.
However, it was Vijay Shankar who finally broke the partnership in the 11th over as he clean bowled Padikkal, who scored 56 runs off 42 balls, including eight fours. The RCB lost Finch off the very next ball bowled by Abhishek Sharma who had him out LBW for 29.
Skipper Virat Kohli, who came in next, didn’t last long and scored 14 runs off 13 balls before becoming a victim of T Natarajan.
AB de Villiers kept scoring from the other end and just when the SRH seemed to control the scoring rate, he upped the ante and slammed two consecutive sixes in the 19th over to take the RCB past the 150-run mark. de Villiers scored 51 off just 30 balls before he was run out in the final over as the RCB finished off at 163/4 in their allotted 20 overs.
Brief scores: RCB 163/4 in 20 overs (Devdutt Padikkal 56, AB de Villiers 51; Abhishek Sharma 2/16) against SRH.
