Hyderabad: Crash! Boom! Bang! That number by Roxette must be ringing in Virat Kohli’s ears after his side burned in the Sunday afternoon Sun.
Sunrisers Hyderabad smashed the season’s highest total of 231 for 2 and then bundled out Royal Challengers Bangalore for a paltry 113 — less than their opener Jonny Bairstow’s individual score — to hand the Indian captain a humiliating defeat. The otherwise sharp Kohli remains pointless after three games now.
The Sunrisers’ total was a double delight, courtesy centuries from openers Bairstow (114) and David Warner (100 not out). The duo also posted their third consecutive century partnership of the season as they put on 185 in 16.2 overs before being separated. It was also the best ever stand for SRH, surpassing 176 for the second wicket between Warner and Kane Williamson in an away game against the Delhi Daredevils last year.
It was the second instance of two centuries being scored in the same innings, after Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers did it for Bangalore against Gujarat Lions in 2016.
The big blades of Bairstow and Warner swung and slashed leaving the Reds bleeding badly at the packed Rajiv Gandhi International Cricket Stadium that lustily cheered every cut and bayed for blood.
Englishman Bairstow was the chief aggressor, blasting 12 boundaries and seven soaring sixes in his 56-ball hurricane that blew the opposition away.
Aussie Warner was all emotion when he got to his hundred — it’s only his third match after returning from a one-year ban for ball-tampering. The 32-year-old let out a roar, leapt into the air and thumped his chest with the helmet to celebrate the big moment, in the last over. It was high-fives all the way for Warner, who hit 5 sixes and 5 fours in the 55 balls he faced.
By contrast, nothing went right for Kohli, except the toss. He began with off-spinner Moeen Ali, perhaps to surprise the openers accustomed more to pace. No luck. Bairstow swatted Moeen down the square leg boundary on the second ball; Warner lifted the off-spinner over the cover for a second and then the former sliced him for another four as the hosts picked 14 off the first over.
At the other end, Warner welcomed pacer Umesh Yadav by hoicking him into the advertising boards.
Yuzvendra Chahal bowled the third over, and conceded 11 runs to Warner. Siraj was up next, the fourth bowler to be used in as many overs. He was taken for 11 runs as well, including two booming boundaries from Bairstow, who punished the Hyderabad-based pacer a bit more in the sixth over as the hosts raced to 59 in Power Play.
The punching continued as Bairstow got to his half-century and Sun was shining at 105 for no loss at the half-way stage. Plenty of strokes flowed in the second half too as the hosts hurtled to a total too high for the visitors.
Earlier, the Sunrisers left out captain Kane Williamson for Afghan allrounder Mohammad Nabi — who justified his inclusion with fancy figures of 4-0-11-4 that derailed RCB’s chase — while Shahbaz Nadeem made way for Deepak Hooda.
