Dubai: Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) began their IPL-13 campaign in style posting 163 for the loss of five wickets against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) here Monday. Led by the youngster Devdutt Padikkal (56, 42b, 8×4), the side from Bangalore looked in command after being 86 without loss in the first 10 overs. However, the quick loss of Padikkal, Aaron Finch (29) and skipper Virat Kohli (14) stemmed the flow of runs as SRH came back strongly in the last 10 overs. It was left to the experience of AB de Villiers (51, 30b, 4×4, 2×6) that took them past the 160-run mark. Will that be enough. Only time will tell.
For SRH, it was Bhuvneshwar Kumar who once more impressed with the ball. Leg-spinner Rashid Khan went for 31 in his four overs. It was quite evident that most of the Indian cricketers were feeling the effect of not being in match practice for a long time.
Finch was very slow as the opening partner with Padikkal getting 29 from 27 balls. Much was expected from him as he had recently batted well in the ODI series against England.
Brief scores: RCB: 163 for five in 20 overs (Devdutt Padikkal 56, AB de Villiers 51, Vijay Shankar 1/14) vs SRH. Match to continue
