The Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) hopes of finishing in the top two took a hit after a heavy loss to SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) on Friday, May 23. Due to bad weather in Bengaluru, RCB had to play their final home match in Lucknow. Ishan Kishan’s impressive unbeaten 94 off 48 balls helped SRH post a strong total of 231/6.
RCB started well, with Phil Salt scoring 62 off 32 and Virat Kohli adding 43 off 25, taking them to 120/1 by the 11th over. However, regular wickets after that disrupted their chase, and they were all out for 189, losing by 42 runs. This defeat dropped RCB to third place in the standings with 17 points from 13 matches and a net run rate of 0.255.
For a top-two finish, RCB must beat Lucknow on May 27 and hope Gujarat Titans and Punjab Kings lose. If Gujarat wins but Punjab loses both games, RCB still needs a win to finish second.
Jitesh Sharma Feels RCB Fell Short by 20-30 Runs in Defeat Against SRH
Serving as the stand-in captain, Jitesh Sharma took charge of Bengaluru for the first time in this game and the second time during the league, but ended up losing. Commenting on the defeat, he said (via ESPNcricinfo):
“I think it was 20-30 runs extra. They played very well. I didn’t have any answers for their attack. We were rusty. The intensity was not there initially… In the death, we were bowling more accurately. Right now, I haven’t met David because I was upset that I got out.”
“Sometimes losing a game is a very good sign because you can check and analyse. The positive things are that everyone’s chipping in. After this loss, we’ve got a setback to check [things] again. We’ll move forward.”
Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) are set to play their final match of the season against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG). The game is scheduled for May 27 at Lucknow’s BRSABV Ekana Stadium.
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