Maxwell, Shahbaz Ahmed help RCB eke out another close win

A familiar script played out at the Chepauk for a second straight night in IPL 2021. Sunrisers Hyderabad were bossing a chase of 150 on a slow wicket but at 96/1 in the 14th over, the wicket of half-centurion David Warner triggered an almighty collapse and pushed SRH off the rails. Shahbaz Ahmed took three wickets in an over and Harshal Patel added another two at the death as Royal Challengers Bangalore edged home by six runs for their second straight win to start the season.

Warner grabbed the chase by the scruff of its neck

Chasing 150 can get tricky on this Chepauk surface in the second half as Kolkata Knight Riders had demonstrated only a night earlier and having faced all of five balls in the first three overs, Warner kicked into gear in Kyle Jamieson's second over. He cut a short ball for four and helped another one off his hip for six. SRH had 32 on the board despite Mohammed Siraj giving away just two runs off his two overs from the other end.

Warner punished anything slightly back of a length, as Hyderabad raced to 50 in the PowerPlay. Even as Manish Pandey batted sedately at the other end, the Sunrisers skipper kept the boundaries coming, using both the conventional and reverse sweeps to ensure Yuzvendra Chahal didn't settle in to have a Rahul Chaharesque impact. By the 11th over, SRH had 87 on the board and the 83-run second-wicket stand, despite Pandey getting stuck, had put SRH firmly in control of the chase. By the time Jamieson came back to dismiss the SRH captain 10 overs later, Warner had made 54 off 37, leaving his team needing a very gettable 54 off 40 deliveries.

How did the game turn?

Through a few quiet overs and SRH's decision to compulsively swipe Shahbaz Ahmed against the line in the 17th over. Right after the last strategic time-out, SRH needed 35 from 24, effectively two boundaries away from closing out the game. Jonny Bairstow miscued a slog off the first ball and was caught expertly by AB de Villiers. The very next ball, Pandey's struggles (38 off 39) were brought to an end when he charged at the left-arm spinner and toe-ended a swipe to short third man. A single and two dots later, it was Abdul Samad's turn to slog and miscue, this time Shahbaz himself settled under the skier and completed the catch for a three-wicket over.

In the following over, Vijay Shankar chipped Harshal Patel to deep mid-wicket and Jason Holder hit straight to long-off in the over after that. Rashid Khan scored a rapid 9-ball 17 to bring the team back but was left with too much to do in the final over, even with a no-ball and free-hit offering.

More on RCB... Who got them up to 149?

Glenn Maxwell. It's been two solid knocks at No.4 for the Australian, who appears to have banished the ghosts of his 2020 season with Punjab. Maxwell, the designated spin-hitter, was kept in check by the duo of Rashid Khan and Shahbaz Nadeem, scratching his way to 9 off 16 before he hit his way out of trouble in Nadeem's fourth over. He rocked back to pull a six and followed that by thrashing the next over extra cover for four. Another pulled six gave him 16 off 3 balls and set him on his way.

Maxwell predominantly watched from the other end as RCB went through a torrid phase between overs 12 and 17 losing 4 for 19. Kyle Jamieson provided a small cameo and Maxwell found late boundaries to give himself his first IPL half-century since May 5, 2016.

How good were SRH with the ball?

Not good, excellent. Bhuvneshwar Kumar bowled slightly full in his first over and almost immediately performed the necessary course correction to shorten his length ever so slightly. It earned him the wicket of Devdutt Padikkal. Jason Holder's natural length and his disconcerting bounce kept the batsmen tied down and earned him three important wickets. Nadeem came on in the PowerPlay and bowled his first three overs for just 14 runs. Rashid Khan was nigh unplayable on this surface and took out de Villiers and Washington Sundar through the middle phase.

Kohli, the opener...

... hasn't had the most booming of starts despite making a pair of steady 33s in his two games and only part of it is down to the slow and low Chepauk surface. The RCB captain had the intent to force the pace after being inserted into bat, but by the end of five overs today, he'd faced only 10 deliveries. He faced four more before the end of the PowerPlay and found two boundaries off T. Natarajan. Staying off strike for long periods in the PowerPlay with neither Padikkal nor Shabhaz Ahmed able to kick on from the other end doesn't help RCB's quest to have a well-set Kohli tackle the middle overs. The RCB skipper got only one boundary against the spinners through the middle phase before falling to Holder off the first ball of the 13th over, a critical juncture in the game. But on this night, when both he and de Villiers weren't around to add the finishing touches to the innings, Maxwell ensured RCB had a winning total.

What next for these teams?

Sunrisers Hyderabad will take on the champions Mumbai Indians in the third of their five games in Chennai on Saturday. RCB will play the last game of their Chennai leg on Sunday afternoon, against Kolkata Knight Riders.

Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 149/8 in 20 overs (Glenn Maxwell 59, Virat Kohli 33; Jason Holder 3-30, Rashid Khan 2-18) beat Sunrisers Hyderabad 143/9 in 20 overs (David Warner 54, Manish Pandey 38; Shahbaz Ahmed 3-7, Harshal Patel 2-25, Mohammed Siraj 2-25)by 6 runs.