Sunrisers Hyderabad successfully defended a low score for the fourth time in the Indian Premier League and defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by five runs on Monday in Hyderabad.
After being bowled out for 146, Hyderabad proved yet again it has the best bowling unit in this IPL by restricting Bangalore to 141-6.
Needing 19 off the last two overs, seamers Sidharth Kaul (1-25) and Bhuvneshwar Kumar (1-27) didn't concede a single boundary to see their team home.
With this win, Hyderabad widened its lead at the top of the table with eight victories in 10 matches. They are now comfortably placed with sixteen points. Meanwhile, Bangalore, with only three wins so far, has only an outside chance of qualifying for the playoffs and are currently placed sixth on the points.
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This is the fourth instance in this edition of the tournament that the team from Hyderabad defended a low total. The team earlier defended totals of 118 against defending champions Mumbai Indians, 132 against Kings XI Punjab, and 151 against Rajasthan Royals. Apart from Sunrisers, only Kings XI Punjab has defended a total less 150 successfully in IPL 2018.
With the win against Royal Challengers on Monday, Sunrisers extended their winning streak to five matches in this edition of the competition. This is their joint best effort as far as back-to-back wins are concerned. In 2017, they were in a similar form and notched up five wins at a stretch. Playing against Daredevils in Delhi on Thursday, the Hyderabad outfit will look to better their last year outing.
For Kohli and Co, after two back-to-back losses their dismal 2018 campaign look in total disarray. Though mathematically it is still possible for them to qualify but again that depends on lots of permutation and combination and the team can no longer afford any kind of slip ups. With four more games to go RoyaL Challengers Bangalore are on six points from ten matches.
(With inputs from AP)
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