OTD | 7 years since RCB suffered heartbreak at Chinnaswamy in the final to SRH

Sunrisers Hyderabad won the IPL trophy after defeating Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL 2016 season finale under the leadership of David Warner on May 30, today marks exactly seven years since RCB’s worst heartbreak at home. 

Prior to the season, two of its most well-known franchises, the Rajasthan Royals and the Chennai Super Kings, were accused of corruption; as a result, they were given a two-year suspension from the league. Both teams were replaced in the 2016 season by the Gujarat Lions and Pune Supergiant, with the latter finishing first under Suresh Raina’s captaincy. 

Virat Kohli’s superhuman efforts, though, are what will be most recalled about the season. He amassed 973 runs in 16 matches, which is still a record for the most runs in a season. SRH’s Bhuvneshwar Kumar finished with the most wickets (23 in 17 games), while Kohli won the Orange Cap. In the season finale, SRH defeated RCB by a slim margin of 8 runs to claim their first IPL title, their only so far. RCB, on the other hand, are yet to win a trophy. 

A 114-run opening stand between Virat Kohli and Chris Gayle wasn’t enough 

Warner (69), who chose to bat at Bengaluru’s M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, took the initiative and scored the most runs for his team, leading Hyderabad to 208-7. After Chris Gayle (76) and Virat Kohli (54) had threatened to end the game, the Australian returned to direct his bowlers, who had mounted a dramatic comeback. Bangalore’s chances of winning the Twenty20 competition in the final three times were dashed by Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who allowed just nine runs in the last over. 

Hyderabad got off to a respectable start thanks to 63 runs from Warner and Shikhar Dhawan (28). They cheaply lost Moises Henriques, but Warner partnered with Yuvraj Singh (38), helping to secure the innings. Warner and Yuvraj both fell in the 14th and 17th overs, but Ben Cutting’s 15-ball blitz made sure they had enough runs for their bowlers.

In the penultimate over of the session, Cutting (39 not out) smashed fellow Australian Shane Watson for three sixes as Hyderabad racked up 52 runs off the final three overs to surpass 200 runs. With the ball, Watson had a dreadful game, giving up 61 runs in his four wicketless overs as SRH reached 208/7.

The goal was challenging, but not insurmountable for the Bangalore team, which had a top order that would make any team in the world shudder. Gayle too had a menacing appearance as he dominated the 114-run opening stand with eight sixes in his two-runs-per-ball blitz. Cutting (2-35), whose all-around performance earned him the man-of-the-match award, removed Gayle to give Hyderabad some much-needed relief as the game appeared to be slipping away. 

However, Bangalore were still very much in the game because of captain Kohli’s form. The leading scorer in the IPL 2016 needed just 32 balls to get his fifty.  The Indian test captain was dismissed by Barinder Sran to help Hyderabad get back into the game, while AB de Villiers (5) was easily removed by Bipul Sharma to stop Bangalore, who only scored 200-7 in their 20 overs.