Royal Challengers Bangalore battered Sunrisers Hyderabad to seal an emphatic victory at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. The visitors made a mockery of the competitive total set by Aiden Markram's side after Heinrich Klaasen's century, thanks to Virat Kohli's swashbuckling ton, his first in IPL 2023.
Chasing a much-needed victory, the visitors got off to a flying start after Virat Kohli struck his compatriot Bhuvneshwar Kumar for consecutive boundaries in the opening over of the second innings. His skipper, Faf du Plessis, also joined the party in the following overs as the star opening pair added 66 runs in the powerplay.
Both batters kept playing their shots along with rotating the strike at regular intervals to keep the scoreboard ticking. While Faf registered his third consecutive half-century of the season, Kohli also raised his bat after compiling his seventh half-century of the ongoing tournament.
The renowned opening pair stitched their fourth-century stand, the joint third most by an opening pair in IPL history, to make a mockery of the chase. A couple of quiet overs excited the home crowd, but Kohli unleashed some glorious shots against Bhuvneshwar, dispatching the veteran Indian pacer for four boundaries in an over.
The former Indian skipper put his foot down the accelerator, registering his first century of this year's tournament and sixth overall in IPL history with a magnificent six. However, he could not see his side home, departing on the very next delivery to a standing ovation from a full house crowd in Hyderabad.
Heinrich Klaasen's blistering century goes in vain
Earlier in the match, Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Faf du Plessis won the toss and elected to bowl first in a must-win game for the franchise. His decision to introduce Michael Bracewell into the bowling attack in the powerplay reaped instant rewards as the Kiwi all-rounder dismissed both the SRH openers in his first over.
However, RCB's dominance with the ball was shortlived as an in-form Heinrich Klaasen came out all guns blazing. The South African middle-order ace was promoted up the batting order, a decision that turned out to be a masterstroke as he took the RCB bowlers, especially the spinners to the cleaners.
His composure against the RCB spinners left a vociferous home crowd in awe of the Proteas star's stroke-making ability. Although he lost skipper Aiden Markram after a solid partnership, he found another valiant partner in Harry Brook. Klaasen went into overdrive in the latter stages of the match, smashing a 49-ball century, his first in the tournament and second in T20 cricket, to take SRH to a competitive total of 186 runs despite RCB's late fightback with the ball.
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