Padikkal (56 of 42, 8 fours) showed his highly qualified talent half a century before Villiers AB (51 of 30) provided the much-needed final flourish to bring RCB to 163 for five after they were hit at bat.
Scorekeeper
Chasing 164 for a win, SRH went all for 153 in 19.4 overs.
The Sunrisers were on their way to a comfortable chase with Jonny bairstow (61 of 43) staring with an ominous twist. Chahal (3/18) eliminated the Englishman and Vijay Shankar on successive balls in the 16th over to tilt the game decisively in his team’s favor.
Bairstow perished trying to get Chahal out of the park while Shankar had no idea of the perfectly placed googly.
That double hit led to a batting collapse, exposing the Sunrisers’ inexperienced middle order. Mitchell Marsh suffered an ankle injury while bowling, which meant he reached No. 10 and could only hold one ball.
Pacer Navdeep Saini (2/25) and Shivam Dube (2/15) also posted neat figures, but Umesh Yadav was costly for RCB once again, with 48 runs in four overs.
Previously, the class and calm that Padikkal displayed in his first high-profile game was remarkable, so much so that Australian limited overs captain Aaron Finch (29 of 27) was happy to play second fiddle at the other end.
The Sunrisers pulled things out in the middle after a 90-run starting position between Padikkal and Finch. De Villiers came in with crucial shots on the limits late to push the team’s score past 160.
Padikkal, 20, who possessed near-perfect balance in the crease, played all over the ground, playing pull and aerial coverage with equal confidence.
Padikkal started with three limits on a left arm pacemaker T Natarajan. The left-handed starter regained his half century with a great sweep over the fielder on the deep square leg.
With starters looking good, RCB sailed to 86 without losing in 10 overs. However, both Padikkal and Finch fell from successive balls and that slowed the scoring rate with RCB collecting just 30 runs from the next five overs.
Pattern virat Kohli departed after scoring 14 of 13, leaving De Villiers to provide the final flourish. The South African star delivered once again, breaking his 200 six for RCB in the process.
There was also an injury scare for Australian off-roader Marsh, who limped off the field with an ankle injury after throwing four balls in his debut game with the Sunrisers.
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