IPL 2023: Virat, Faf blow SRH away in one-sided contest to register 8-wicket win; Klaasen's ton goes in vain

Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) were at their fluent best on Thursday, May 18 as they beat hosts Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by eightwickets in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Despite a well-made 104 from Heinrich Klaasen, it was his fellow South African star Faf du Plessis (71) and former India captain Virat Kohli (100) who turned the screws for the away side and won the contest for RCB with fourballs to spare. The win takes RCB to fourth spot with their playoff fortunes in their own hand with one match to go for each team while Virat enjoyed his first ton in IPL after four years.

6️⃣th hundred for the King in the IPL and it’s come in an all important chase! 🥹

Only RCB Hall of Famer, Chris Gayle, has as many hundreds 🤌#PlayBold #ನಮ್ಮRCB #IPL2023 #SRHvRCB @imVkohli pic.twitter.com/lIVWX0YsJD — Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) May 18, 2023

Virat’s keeps RCB in playoff hunt

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Asked to chase 187 runs after a quickfire ton from Heinrich Klaasen, it was Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis who did the trick for RCB as they dominated from the first ball. Virat brought his first IPL ton in four years after he smashed Bhuvneshwar Kumar for a six on the fourth ball of the 18th over. While he was dismissed on the very next ball, the job was already done for the away side as Virat’s innings consisted of 4 sixes and 12 fours as scored at a strike rate of 159.

Faf du Plessis soon followed Virat, but he too had done his job and departed on 73 which consisted of 2 sixes and 7 fours. The duo put together an opening stand of 172 runs and paved the way for RCB to go fourth in the IPL standings. Bhuvneshwar Kumar and T Natrajan both ended with a wicket but had a relatively off day against Virat and Faf. Glenn Maxwell (5) and Michael Bracewell (4) then saw RCB home for a comfortable win.

ALSO READ |IPL 2023: Faf du Plessis praises passionate Kohli, says playing with him is better than being in opposite team

What happened in SRH’s innings?

Earlier, Heinrich Klaasen's spectacular maiden IPL century powered Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) to 186/5 against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in their IPL 2023 match here at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad on Thursday.

Klaasen scored the highest for SRH with an outstanding knock of 104 runs off 51 balls while Harry Brook scored unbeaten 27 in 19 deliveries. For RCB, Michael Bracewell bagged two wickets while Shahbaz Ahmed, Mohammed Siraj and Harshal Patel scalped one each.

RCB end their league campaign against leaders Gujarat Titans (GT) at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Sunday, May 21. The contest could be a must-win one for RCB if Mumbai Indians and Rajasthan Royals (RR) win their respective games in their final matches of the league season. On the flip side, SRH will end their campaign against Mumbai at the Wankhede Stadium on the same day.

WATCH WION LIVE HERE

You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.