A valiant half-century by AB de Villiers wasn’t enough as the Royal Challengers Bangalore crushed out of the IPL thanks to a six-wicket defeat to the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
It was all to play for both teams in Friday’s Eliminator with the winner moving on to Sunday’s Qualifier 2, while the loser’s campaign was over.
The Sunrisers were riding high in confidence by sneaking into the playoffs and opted to bowl first when captain David Warner won the toss.
It didn’t take long before Jason Holder got in on the act by dismissing the dangerous Virat Kohli, who opened the batting, for only six before the West Indian skipper sent fellow opener Devdutt Paddikal packing soon after for only one.
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RCB were slumped into further turmoil with the wickets of Aaron Finch and Moeen Ali, who was run out for a golden duck off a free hit.
At 62-4 RCB were in heaps of trouble but De Villiers managed to get some runs on the scoreboard despite losing regular wickets around him.
The former Proteas captain notched up an important 50 but was undone by a beautiful yorker by T Natarajan for 56.
Holder finished with figures of 3-25 in his four overs as RCB fought to 131-7 in their innings.
It wasn’t all plain sailing for the Sunrisers, however, who were made to battle hard with the bat thanks to some tight bowling by the RCB bowlers and a disciplined run rate.
Warner only managed 17, while Manish Pandey quickly added 24 but it was Kane Williamson who carried the Sunrisers home with a brave and patient half-century.
The Sunrisers required nine runs from the final over but back-to-back boundaries by Holder saw them over the line.
They will now face the Delhi Capitals on Sunday.
