IPL 2023: Virat, Du Plessis lead RCB to thumping 8-wicket win over SRH, boost pl

Virat Kohlis excellent century 100 off 63 and Faf du Plessis fine fifty 71 off 47 outclassed Heinrich Klaasens hundred and led Royal Challengers Bangalore RCB to a thumping eightwicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad SRH in Match No 65 of Indian Premier League IPL 2023 at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium here on ThursdayWith this win RCB jumped to the fourth position in the table having 14 points in 13 matches and boosted their Playoff chances On the other hand SRH remained at the bottom of the table with just four wins in 13 gamesSouth African wicketkeeper batter Klaasens maiden IPL century 104 off 51 propelled Sunrisers Hyderabad SRH to 1865 in 20 overs After Klaasen Harry Brook 27 off 19 was the secondbest scorer for SRH Both Klaasen and Brook stitched a quickfire stand of 74 runs for the fourth wicket On the other hand Michael Bracewell was the most successful bowler for RCB with his superb 213Chasing 187 to win openers Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis gave RCB a flying start scoring 640 after 6 overs It was Kohli who started the show for RCB hitting four boundaries in the first two overs bowled by Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Abhishek SharmaNatarajan bowled a decent over to concede just 7 runs However both Du Plessis and Kohli went after Kartik Tyagi hammering the young pacer for four boundaries in an over During the process Faf miscued his shot but Glenn Philips couldnt get a hold of the ballBoth Kohli and Faf pierced the gaps with surgical precision and kept on picking boundaries at their will as RCB were moving strongly in the run chase With runs flowing from both ends SRH skipper Markram was forced to make frequent bowling changes Against debutant Nitish Kumar spinner Mayank Dagar openers were a bit cautious but they kept the scoreboard ticking to take RCB to 950 after 10 oversPhilips came to bowl the 12th over and both Kohli and Faf completed their respective fifties in that over and RCB were cruising towards the title It seemed like RCB brought their clinical best to the business end of the tournament courtesy Kohli and Du Plessis who continued their batting carnage as the chasing team were 1500 after 15 oversNothing was going in SRHs favour as Virat brought his fantastic century after a long wait of four years It was Kohlis sixth hundred in the IPL drawing level with Chris Gayle and he stitched a massive opening partnership of 172 runs with Faf du PlessisIn the very next delivery after his century Kohli got out to Bhuvneshwar in the fifth ball of the 18th over but he had done more than enough for his side Though Du Plessis was dismissed by Natarajan in the next over the likes of Glenn Maxwell 5 not out and Michael Bracewell 4 not out took RCB over the victory line with four balls to spareEarlier put in to bat first Sunrisers Hyderabad were off to a slow start as RCB pacers Mohammed Siraj and Wayne Parnell kept the openers Abhishek Sharma and Rahul Tripathi on a tight leashSRH got some momentum in Parnells second over with the openers hitting the pacer for 16 runs However New Zealand spinner Bracewell dismissed both openers in his first over to put a halt to the scoring rateAbhishek 11 got out while playing a cut shot while Tripathi 15 could only loft his shot to short fineleg for a catch leaving SRH at 282 after 43 overs The inform Heinrich Klaasen then came to the party and hammered Shahbaz Ahmed for 16 off his first over as SRH ended the Powerplay with 492The decision from SRH management to send the inform batter Klaasen up the order paid dividends as he continued his aggressive approach which resulted in a flurry of fours and sixesOn the other hand skipper Aiden Markram was enjoying the show from the other end and happily playing the second fiddle as SRH raced to 812 after 10 oversIn the very next over Klaasen hit legspinner Karn Sharma for a six and took a few singles to complete his halfcentury in just 24 balls RCB desperately needed a wicket and it was Shahbaz Ahmed who broke the 76run stand by removing MarkramDespite taking Markrams wicket RCB didnt get any respite and new batter Harry Brook also looked in fine touch from the very first ball which he faced Brook who made a comeback to the side after missing a few games played some classy shots to get sixes and boundaries On the other hand Klaasen was in no mood to stop and took the RCB bowlers to the cleaners with SRH reaching 1333 after 15 oversThe decision to bring Shahbaz in the 17th over by captain Faf Du Plessis backfired as both Klaasen and Brook clobbered him for 19 runs Parnell gave big relief to RCB by conceding just 7 runs in his overKlaasen eventually smashed a poor delivery by Harshal for a straight six and got his ton off 49 balls However Harshal had the last laugh as he bowled a dipping yorker to dismiss Klaasen Siraj who was playing on his home ground then bowled an excellent over giving just 4 runs and taking the wicket of Glenn Phillips to keep Sunrisers to 1865 in 20 oversBrief scoresSunrisers Hyderabad 1865 in 20 Overs Heinrich Klaasen 104 Harry Brook 27 M Bracewell 213 lost to Royal Challengers Bangalore 1872 in 192 overs Virat Kohli 100 Faf du Plessis 71 T Natarajan 134 by eight wicketsAlso ReadIPL 2023 I dont care what anyone says on outside because that is there opinion says KohliThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever