Well that was an astonishing chase. For all of Moises Henriques’ brilliance, you have to admire Virat Kohli and the nerve he showed there. He – and Gayle’s quite absurd assault on the bowlers – ensured that RCB were always up with the required rate. The Sunrisers aren’t too badly damaged in the standings, but that’s a big boost for RCB who could yet lose their last game and go through. Not that they’ll be countenancing that.
That’s all from me folks, as it’s late now. Thanks very much for reading. Bye!
RCB win by six wickets!
5.5 overs (6) RCB 83-4 (Sarfaraz 0, Kohli 44) SCENES! Kohli goes big, straight down the ground and Warner catches it. He stumbles back though and throws it back into play, but RCB are celebrating. We have a look on the replay... Warner has trodden on the rope! Brilliantly he was celebrating the wicket when his foot landed!
5.4 overs (6) RCB 77-4 (Sarfaraz 0, Kohli 38) 4 to win What a batsman this guy is. Kohli goes across to off, looking to scoop, Kumar spots it coming and sends it down fuller and wider, so Kohli opens the face very late and gets it down to third man for four!
5.3 overs (6) RCB 73-4 (Sarfaraz 0, Kohli 34) 8 to win Shot! A yorker is not only dug out, but driven brilliantly, wristily through cover point for four.
Wicket! Karthik run out
5.2 overs (6) RCB 69-4 (Sarfaraz 0, Kohli 30) 12 to win A full toss, Kohli smacks it back and it hits his batting partner! Karthik sets off anyway and Kumar simply picks it up and removes the bails! Desperately unlucky
5.1 overs (6) RCB 69-3 (Karthik 2, Kohli 30) 12 to win 13 needed off the last over. Karthik plays the scoop to Bhuvneshwar Kumar and shovels it over his shoulder for a single.
5th over (6) RCB 68-3 (Karthik 1, Kohli 30) target 81 23 needed from 12 balls; might Henriques be the bowler to get a second over? It’s Praveen Kumar now and a dreadful ball brings the wicket of Mandeep. Crucially though, the batsmen crossed so Kohli is on strike. He backs away, Kumar goes wide outside off and it’s a dot. This is great stuff, full from round the wicket, and Kohli can only dig the next one out for a very quick two. 21 needed. Short next and Kohli is on it in a flash, going over midwicket for six. A yorker and a quick single to mid on means that Dinesh Karthik is on strike – surely he’s on a hiding to nothing and has to go for this? He can only get it down to long on for one.
Wicket! Mandeep c b P Kumar 1
A leg stump full toss brings a wicket again, as Mandeep flicks it straight to the man at deep backward square leg. That should have been sent miles back.
4th over (6) RCB 58-2 (Mandeep 1, Kohli 21) target 81 Kohli begins the over with a punch to mid on and a scrambled two off Karn Sharma. He pulls to long on for one more next, bringing Mandeep Singh on strike. These two can’t get hold of the spinner and Mandeep hits straight up, the ball landing safely in no mans land to bring two. Kohli does the same, but this time a diving catch is spilled by the bowler himself, running out from his delivery position to the edge of the fielding circle and not quite clinging on as the ball dropped over his shoulder. They run two from that one and two from the next, as Kohli doesn’t get hold it once again. The RCB captain changes his bat, and clears long on for six!
3rd over (6) RCB 44-2 (Mandeep 0, Kohli 8) target 81 Henriques into the attack and the change of pace beats Kohli, who was advancing down the wicket and looking to carve it over mid off. A crunch out to deep mid on brings one and gets Gayle back on strike. It’s short to him and some tennis ball bounce means that the first ball to Gayle is called a wide. Two wickets in two balls though mean that this has swung right back in the Sunrisers’ favour. Kohli can only get a single from the rest of the over. Three runs from it and that might well be the match.
Wicket! de Villiers c Steyn b Henriques 0
Slapped straight down the ground and caught at long on. It didn’t come off the middle and Henriques is on a hat trick.
Wicket! Gayle c Dhawan b Henriques 35
Short, slower outside off and Gayle doesn’t quite get hold of it. Flat and straight to the man on the long on boundary.
2nd over (6) RCB 41-0 (Gayle 35, Kohli 6) target 81 Bhuvi Kumar has the ball at the other end. A length ball, takes a thick edge and flies miles up, over third man and bounces about a yard inside the rope. That went an absurd distance. Length again and this really isn’t the way to go; up and over mid wicket for four more. Kumar learns from his mistake and switches to the yorker, which yields a precious dot. The next one is too a half volley though and Gayle, coming down the track, murders it over wide long on and into the second tier. Another yorker and a thick inside edge goes to backward square for four more! Gayle nutmegged himself there! The last ball is in the slot and Gayle clears mid off! Six more! He is on 35 from nine balls.
1st over (6) RCB 17-0 (Gayle 11, Kohli 6) target 81 Steyn gets things underway and his first ball is back of a length and rocketed through mid wicket on the up for four by Gayle. The next one is shorter still and Gayle goes on to the back foot and launches it over long on and into the second tier; that was a terrifying hit. Another short one, a mistimed pull and it’s just a single to backward square leg. A length ball outside off to Kohli and his flicks a lovely, wristy shot up and over mid on for a one bounce four. Another length ball, Kohli goes up in the air, but it drops agonisingly in front of the man at mid on! A full toss to end and Kohli can’t get it past the fielder.
Right, two overs of powerplay, four bowlers can bowl one over and one can bowl two.
RCB require 81 from six overs
This should be fun.
The players are out and ready to go, but the umpires have walked off for some reason. Bhuvi Kumar has picked a ball, but the rain is still coming down lightly. I’m seeing reports that the target will be around 70 from five overs.
That was some mighty batting from Henriques. It’s certainly made the Sunrisers favourites and as such they’re looking far keener to get back on. All the covers are now off.
Last sheet coming off... #ipl
— Innocent Bystander (@InnoBystander) May 15, 2015
Oh wait, it’s back on Sky. Phew.
We need to restart in the next 16 minutes to have a game. That’s 7.46pm BST, or 12.16am Indian time, for us to get a five over Duckworth Lewis affected chase in. The covers are still on. To make matters worse, I’ve got no commentary as Sky have switched to the football and I’m going through another feed. At least Danny Morrison has gone.
Updated
With Mitchell Starc conceding a six, the bowler without conceding a six in #IPL 2015 is #DD's Jayant Yadav in 36 balls! #SRHvsRCB
— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) May 15, 2015
This isn’t restarting on time. I think it’s stopped raining
RCB are not happy, and rightly so. Now the covers are coming on, and they’ll be annoyed that they had to bowl an over in these conditions, conceding 10 runs off it.
Wicket, end of innings and rain stopped play all at once.
11th over (11) Sunrisers 135-3 (Warner 51) Starc to finish the innings. His first ball is an excellent yorker that Morgan can’t get away. The England captain backs away to the next ball but Starc follows him and it’s just a hoik to fine leg for one. Warner on strike also backs away, also gets followed and can also only dig it out for one. This is great bowling with the rain coming down hard and the ball getting slippery. A fourth yorker, but this time Kohli fumbles, trying to field one-handed, and they get two. Kohli is indicating that it’s far too wet and he’s got a point. Oh this will make him unhappy, Starc is a fraction too short for the yorker and Morgan seizes on it, smashing it back over the bowler’s head for six. One more, a shorter one, and Morgan top edges to the fielder at mid off. Morgan c Mandeep Singh b Starc 11
10th over (11) Sunrisers 125-2 (Warner 51, Morgan 2) Warner brings up the 100 partnership by trying to play the reverse straight slog for six and getting a thin edge past the keeper for four down to fine third man. He then backs away to leg and punches to cover point for a single to bring up his own 50. Henriques goes next ball though and is replaced at the crease by Morgan. The rain’s coming back down a bit. Just eight, plus a wicket, from a good over.
Wicket! Henriques c Karthik b Wiese 57
It’s a length ball, Henriques gives it the charge and the slog, but get a thin edge straight through to the keeper’s secure gloves.
9th over (11) Sunrisers 117-1 (Warner 45, Henriques 57) We’re going back to spin, with Chahal. This could be nasty. Yeah, Warner starts by reverse slog sweeping over point for six. Absurdly, he then pulls out a reverse cover drive for two. I did that once, in my friend’s back garden. It was the best shot I ever played. Henriques nudges to mid on for a couple to move to his half century from 20 balls, then celebrates with a six over mid on so nonchalant that Chris Gayle was probably impressed.
8th over (11) Sunrisers 100-1 (Warner 36, Henriques 49) Back comes Starc. The replays show that Warner was openly laughing at that missed run out in the last over. Henriques, looking to hit a boundary to get the fastest 50 in the tournament, gets a thick edge straight to gully. Calm as you like, Sarfaraz Kahn puts his hands up, takes the catch above his head... and inexplicably drops it. This has been utterly awful. You know exactly what Warner does to the next ball, through extra cover (four, in case you weren’t up to speed on how this works). Two from the final ball to Henriques.
Updated
7th over (11) Sunrisers 89-1 (Warner 28, Henriques 46) This is an awful drop. Harshal Patel sends a full one down from around the wicket, wide of off; Henriques launches it down the throat of Mandeep Singh at long off, but the fielder spills a simple catch and it bobbles sorrily over the rope for four. The next ball brings the mandatory four, a full ball run deftly down to third man. A wide, then Henriques moves into the 40s by larruping a wide length ball over long off once again for six. He’s in mighty good nick right now. As if to emphasise that, Henriques looks to launch one over square leg, but edges it over third man for a one bounce four. Christ then more awful fielding as Henriques runs halfway down the pitch after being struck on the pad, turns and gives up, only for Patel to pick up and miss the stumps with an underarm throw from a couple of yards, with all three to aim at!
6th over (11) Sunrisers 68-1 (Warner 28, Henriques 26) The first ball of Dinda’s second over is not, in that it’s a full toss above waist height and an extra is awarded. Warner then bottom edges a cut, it bounces over the keeper’s head but, on this slow outfield only yields a couple of runs. I reckon anything over 110 is going to be tough to chase on here and they’re on course for that. One more down the ground, then a slow, wide ball gets what it deserves, cracked through cover for four by Henriques. Oh and it’s been called a no ball, so the next will be a free hit; that’s a harsh call as Dinda’s heel landed behind the line. Henriqes whacks the free hit, a peachy half volley, from back in the crease over long off. One from a yorker ends a rather expensive over.
IPL game on one side: 50 runs off five overs; English T20 Blast on the other: 3 runs off two overs.
— Tom Davies (@tomdaviesE17) May 15, 2015
5th over (11) Sunrisers 50-1 (Warner 24, Henriques 14) Spin now, with Chahal, and Warner backs away to his first ball and smacks it off a length, through extra cover for four. Ever so slightly short that one and Warner will love that. Warner backs away to the next one too and Chahal follows him down leg, goes fuller and the batsman can only drive it for one. An exchange of singles later, Henriques comes down down the track and lifts it excellently down the ground for a straight ball. Honest to god, Danny Morrison says “Straight into the [sponsor’s name] and out again”. He is the worst man in the world, isn’t he? The final ball is driven out to extra cover and de Villiers, sliding along, allows the ball to spin off his body and away for four.
4th over (11) Sunrisers 33-1 (Warner 18, Henriques 4) Ashoke Dinda is on for his first bowl – indeed his first match – of the season. Henriques punches to cover for a single, then Warner whacks a short one out to mid on for the same. This is good stuff from Dinda, full and in the block hole; as such Warner can’t free his arms and four singles from the first four balls are the result. Chance for a run out from the fifth as Henriques sets off for a single after thumping the ball into his own pads but, as Dinda runs down the pitch, fields and throws the stumps down, Warner gets home by miles. Weirdly that’s given as a leg bye. Another single from an inside edge last ball, this one fielded by the keeper scrambling to his right.
3rd over (11) Sunrisers 27-1 (Warner 15, Henriques 1) Wiese begins with a length ball that Dhawan waits on, before lifting it over mid on for four. The second ball probably warrants the same number of runs, but Dhawan miscues it to the mid on fielder. The batsmen then take a bye from a wide, bringing Warner on strike, and he thumps a half volley down to long off for four more. Wiese gets a precious dot ball with one that goes across and beats Warner, before the over concludes with a single to each batsman.
Wicket! Dhawan c Dinda b Wiese 8
Short ball, outside off stump and it really should be cut away. Instead, Dhawan tries to pull it over mid on, the ball comes off the bottom edge and Dinda pouches it safely.
2nd over (11) Sunrisers 15-0 (Warner 10, Dhawan 4) From the other end it’s Harshal Patel and, from round the wicket, he gets one to keep very low and beat Dhawan’s wild swish. The batsman doesn’t really connect next time either, awkwardly sending an uppish cut wide of the diving man at backward point and getting two runs to the man on the sweep. The outfield looks to be pretty sluggish, not surprisingly, given the amount of rain that it’s absorbed. One more out to cover, then Warner has a swing and a miss at a slower ball outside off stump. He punches the fifth ball of the over down the ground, to the long on fielder on the bounce, for a couple. Good running between the wickets. Warner gets the first boundary with a cross batted pump to long off for four. Good start this for RCB.
1st over (11) Sunrisers 6-0 (Warner 4, Dhawan 1) Starc will take the new ball as you’d expect, bowling to Warner. The batsman gets a very thick inside edge down to fine leg first ball, scurrying through for a couple of runs, then pushes to mid on for a single. I warn you now, the storm that’s meant to be about looks to interfering with the TV pictures already. Dhawan misses out when Starc strays on to leg stump, getting only a leg bye when the ball was begging to be knocked to the fence. One more down the ground for Warner, then the last ball is a bumper that Dhawan mistimes, trying to hook it round the corner and looping it to mid on for a single.
Here we go, the players are out. Presumably Starc will bowl three overs.
The rain is holding off. Excellent, we should have a game in five minutes or so.
The rules
Three overs of Powerplay. One bowler can bowl a maximum of three, four others can bowl two. “It’s going to rain again,” says my colleague Katy Murrells, ever the optimist.
E11 game starting in 25 minutes
Unless it rains again. That’s 6.10pm, London time.
There will be another inspection at 10.15pm local time. That’s 5.45pm BST, but it’ll take around 40 minutes from then to get the ground ready for play. Best we can hope for is a T10 starting around 6.30pm, I guess.
Notts v Warwickshire is on TV in an hour or so. Maybe we should be doing that?
I don't like this!!! I really hope there is a game today!! @RCBTweets #PlayBold #RCB #IPL #SRHvRCB pic.twitter.com/8sGCbd7JPb
— Shruti Sundar (@shrutisundar7) May 15, 2015
The rain has stopped. I don’t know why it bothers, it’s only going to start again.
The cut-off time is 11.28pm, locally, for a five-hour game. That’s... 6.58pm BST.
This is bad news for RCB, who have now had four matches affected by rain with one of them a total washout. Given that the first tie-breaker for teams level on points is the number of wins rather than net run rate, they can feel hard done by if they miss out on the top four.
It is now raining again. But only lightly. Stick with us, folks.
It’s no longer raining. The umpires are out in the middle having a look.
It is still raining. To confirm, we are definitely losing overs now. For now, your favourite song of the year. And yes, those keyboards at the beginning do sound like Toto’s Africa.
Looks like we will be losing overs now... #ipl
— Innocent Bystander (@InnoBystander) May 15, 2015
DEAR GOD I’M BORED. I’ll take Morrison’s commentary, just stop raining.
Bah! It’s raining again and back on come the covers.
Start in 23 minutes
That’s 4.20pm BST.
There will be an inspection in 10 minutes.
Promising news!
Rain stopped - plenty of action on the covers... #ipl
— Innocent Bystander (@InnoBystander) May 15, 2015
No word on any inspection yet, not that there would be much point given that it’s still absolutely tipping it down. I think that it’s around 9.30pm local time, so 4pm BST that we start losing overs. Don’t hold me to that, though.
In the meantime, new Tom Waits!
Bad news: it’s belting it down and the covers are back.
Team news
Steyn and Praveen Kumar return for the Sunrisers. For the Royal Challengers, Aravind chipped his finger so Ashok Dinda comes in.
Sunrisers Hyderabad: DA Warner*, S Dhawan, MC Henriques, EJG Morgan, NV Ojha†, KL Rahul, Bipul Sharma, KV Sharma, B Kumar, P Kumar, DW Steyn
RCB: CH Gayle, V Kohli*, AB de Villiers, KD Karthik†, SN Khan, Mandeep Singh, D Wiese, MA Starc, HV Patel, YS Chahal, AB Dinda
Updated
The toss
Oh no, it’s Morrison. Only one more week of this guy. David Warner wins the toss and decides that the Sunrisers will bat first. Kohli would have done the same.
Good news dept. The covers are being taken off, so it looks like we’ll start just about on time.
Preamble
Afternoon/evening folks. Let’s start with the big talking point of the week: he’s gone and he isn’t coming back. We’ll probably never see him at this level again, after a silly, petulant fall-out with the board. Not that the board’s product has been much cop for a little while now, so you’d think that they’d bend over backwards to accommodate his enormous, obvious talent, but no. Personal feelings have held sway and Harry Shearer has left The Simpsons. I for one don’t welcome this at all.
Oh right, the cricket. The big question that everyone is asking* is how will the Sunrisers cope with the loss of poor ol’ injured Kevin Pietersen for the latter stages. Let me answer that for you: just fine, given how they seem to have been going lately. Three wins on the bounce as part of five in the last six: little Davey Warner stands on the brink of taking his side into the playoffs today.
In similarly good form though, with five wins in their last seven, are tonight’s visitors, Royal Challengers Bangalore. Thanks to their absurd batting lineup, they’ve posted 200, 226 and a whopping 235 the last three times they’ve batted first. They too can near enough qualify with a win tonight.
The losers aren’t out of it completely, but hey, we have a proper, honest-to-god high stakes match on our hands here! The winner will be showered with praise! The loser will be taunted and booed until my throat is sore!
A word of warning though. The covers were on about 40 minutes before the scheduled start of play, although there’s no rain about at the moment, I’m told. We do have thunderstorms forecast at an unspecified time later tonight though.
Play is due to begin about 3.30pm biased, London centric media time, or 8pm locally. Toss and team news is therefore due any minute now, so do stand by. While you’re standing by, this is hilarious.
*For the purposes of this preamble, they are.
