Synopsis: Kohli-Padikkal duet blasts out Sudharsan’s symphony as RCB beat GT by five wickets.
Overhauling two hundred plus totals has lost its novelty in the league. But seldom has it looked so frictionless, as when Virat Kohli and produced fireworks that backboned ’s predatory hunting down of ’ 205 by five wickets and seven balls to spare, laying to waste ’s gorgeous hundred. The defending champions are putting on a strong title defence bid.
Midway through their match-winning, thrill-a-ball stand, Virat Kohli took the backseat and decided to be the backing vocals. He gestured at his younger partner, Padikkal, to continue strumming the head-banging notes. Padikkal batted like a possessed drummer. Transfixed, the crowd were jiving and heaving to the soulful tunes composed in the middle.
Padikkal was in a vengeful mood, as though he nursed a grudge against the Titans’ bowlers, all proven performers in sinister rhythm. The most stupendous stroke of his was a flat, lofted off-drive beyond the fence off an erratic Prasidh Krishna. Among the highest wicket-takers thus far in the league, he reacquainted himself with his scattergun past. He bowled too short for the lanky Padikkal, whom he pulled disdainfully. The most audacious was the thump over cover, on one knee, off . Padikkal 2.0 is a liberated stroke-maker, unafraid to take risks. He has expanded his range of shots, bringing more punch to his lofted drives and power to his sweeps.
Soon, the song of Kohli hit a high pitch. Upon completing the half-century, he resumed the old rivalry with South African seamer . He flicked him when he misdirected the ball to his legs. The ball after, he imperiously wristed him over mid-wicket, a stroke that would have launched a thousand memories for his audience. He was in bewilderingly devilish nick, as Jason Holder, his wicket-taker, would testify. He whipped up two wondrous back-to-back sixes. He sashayed down the track and spanked him over midwicket. The next ball, he held the pose with a sumptuous off-drive. Each shot was a stab at the heart of , who shelled the former India captain on zero. Unburdened by round-the-year toils, Kohli batted with freshness and intensity. He was livid with himself when he chopped Holder’s slower ball onto the stumps. He wanted to steer them ashore.
In the space of five balls, lost both Padikkal and Kohli. But the tempo set by the 115-run stand off in merely 59 balls was unstoppably loud. And despite a late wobble, they wrapped up another emphatic victory.
If Sanju Samson lit up Wankhede with an ode to artful, melodic batting on Thursday, the next day, Sai Sudharsan paid a nod to non-violent batting at M Chinnaswamy Stadium, a glowing proof of the format’s malleability.
En route to his 58-ball hundred, Sudharsan was an antithesis to all that is considered virtuous in this format. Minimalism is the foundation of his batting. He is statue-still, all focus, until the ball is halfway through its flight. Then his feet begin to move, stern and precise strides, the hands come out, that bat comes down in a measured arc. The body flows accordingly in one singular movement of chiselled correctness.
There was a marvellous exception of his non-expansive traits, when he scooped Romario Shepherd over fine-leg. A significant sideways shuffle and bending his body corresponding to the bounce, he flicked the ball with the least violent swirl of the wrists. It was the exact moment the Royal Challengers sensed the gravity of the moment. Rajat Patidar and Co were reasonably content that Titans were not blistering away, rather motoring along. The scoop signalled a clear momentum shift, a reg flag that the Titans had little inclination to consolidate but would look to shift another upward gear.
So it turned out, as Titans stormed from a commendable 61/0 in seven overs to 121/0 in 12 overs. Sudharsan defanged Krunal Pandya with an uppercut six off his shock bouncer. The left-arm spinner was forced into more orthodox lengths and methods, whereupon the southpaw slog-swept him over the short mid-wicket fence.
But his powerplay path was different. The off-side was stacked, but he punished anything remotely wide through square, be it cuts, slashes, taps or steers. Half a dozen fours and a gorgeously slapped six of Josh Hazlewood were accrued through the arc between point and third man. He didn’t necessarily need width, nor did he twist his frame to create room, but he used his pliant hands to guide the ball through the minuscule gaps.
His departure, though, jerked Titans. None of the middle-order batsmen could convert the high-raiser into a skyscraper. From 170 in 16 overs, they dawdled to 187 in 19 overs in three boundary-less overs. Those three overs cast their long shadows in the game.
Brief Scores: 205/3 in 20 overs (Sai Sudharsan 100, Gill 32) lost to RCB 206/5 in 18.5 overs (Kohli 81, Padikkal 55) by five wickets
