Rajneesh Gupta's fascinating look at the routes RCB and Sunrisers Hyderabad took to the IPL 9 final.
Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad -- the two sides in the IPL 9 final -- were the two best sides in the tournament without doubt.
Both RCB and Sunrisers had an entirely different route to the final.
RCB had a horrible start to IPL 9, losing 5 of their first 7 games. They were languishing in 7th place among the 8 teams at the half-way stage. Virat Kohli's team then witnessed a dramatic change in its fortunes.
With 4 games to play, RCB needed to win all 4 to remain in a contention for the Playoffs. Virat then showed why he is rated so high among contemporary batsmen.
In the 4 must win games, Virat scored 109, 75*, 113 and 54* and ensured RCB entered the Playoffs as the second ranked team.
In the first Qualifier they were up against table-toppers Gujarat Lions. Chasing a modest 159, RCB were reeling at 29/5, but an A B de Villiers special clinched RCB an improbable win and took them to the final.
Sunrisers suffered a loss in their first 2 games, but then won 7 out of the next 8, thanks to skipper David Warner's shrewd captaincy and amazing batting.
The team lost a few games more than their liking towards the end of the group, but reached the Playoffs as the third ranked team.
In the Playoffs, Sunrisers first beat the Kolkata Knight Riders by choking the opposition in the last five overs. The way Sunrisers bowlers sent down yorker after yorker cramping the batsmen in the final stages of the game was simply amazing.
In the second Qualifier Sunrisers chased down Gujarat Lions' 162 thanks to another Warner special.
ROAD TO THE FINAL: ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE
| Date | Venue | Batted 1st | Batted | Result | ||
| 12-Apr | Bangalore | RCB | 227-4 (20) | SRH | 182-6 (20) | RCB won by 45 runs |
| 17-Apr | Bangalore | RCB | 191-5 (20) | DD | 192-3 (19.1) | DD won by 7 wickets |
| 20-Apr | Mumbai WS | RCB | 170-7 (20) | MI | 171-4 (18) | MI won by 6 wickets |
| 22-Apr | Pune | RCB | 185-3 (20) | RPS | 172-8 (20) | RCB won by 13 runs |
| 24-Apr | Rajkot | RCB | 180-2 (20) | GL | 182-4 (19.3) | GL won by 6 wickets |
| 30-Apr | Hyderabad | SRH | 194-5 (20) | RCB | 179-6 (20) | SRH won by 15 runs |
| 02-May | Bangalore | RCB | 185-7 (20) | KKR | 189-5 (19.1) | KKR won by 5 wickets |
| 07-May | Bangalore | RPS | 191-6 (20) | RCB | 195-3 (19.3) | RCB won by 7 wickets |
| 09-May | Mohali | RCB | 175-6 (20) | KXIP | 174-4 (20) | RCB won by 1 run |
| 11-May | Bangalore | RCB | 151-4 (20) | MI | 153-4 (18.4) | MI won by 6 wickets |
| 14-May | Bangalore | RCB | 248-3 (20) | GL | 104 (18.4) | RCB won by 144 runs |
| 16-May | Kolkata | KKR | 183-5 (20) | RCB | 186-1 (18.4) | RCB won by 9 wickets |
| 18-May | Bangalore | RCB | 211-3 (20) | KXIP | 120-9 (20) | RCB won by 82 runs (D/L) |
| 22-May | Raipur | DD | 138-8 (20) | RCB | 139-4 (18.1) | RCB won by 6 wickets |
| 24-May | Bangalore | GL | 158 (20) | RCB | 159-6 (18.2) | RCB won by 4 wickets |
ROAD TO THE FINAL: SUNRISERS HYDERABAD
| Date | Venue | Batted 1st | Batted | Result | ||
| 12-04-2016 | Bangalore | RCB | 227-4 (20) | SRH | 182-6 (20) | RCB won by 45 runs |
| 16-04-2016 | Hyderabad | SRH | 142-7 (20) | KKR | 146-2 (18.2) | KKR won by 8 wickets |
| 18-04-2016 | Hyderabad | MI | 142-6 (20) | SRH | 145-3 (17.3) | SRH won by 7 wickets |
| 21-04-2016 | Rajkot | GL | 135-8 (20) | SRH | 137-0 (14.5) | SRH won by 10 wickets |
| 23-04-2016 | Hyderabad | KXIP | 143-6 (20) | SRH | 146-5 (17.5) | SRH won by 5 wickets |
| 26-04-2016 | Hyderabad | SRH | 118-8 (20) | RPS | 94-3 (11) | RPS won by 34 runs (D/L) |
| 30-04-2016 | Hyderabad | SRH | 194-5 (20) | RCB | 179-6 (20) | SRH won by 15 runs |
| 06-05-2016 | Hyderabad | GL | 126-6 (20) | SRH | 129-5 (19) | SRH won by 5 wickets |
| 08-05-2016 | Visak’nam | SRH | 177-3 (20) | MI | 92 (16.3) | SRH won by 85 runs |
| 10-05-2016 | Visak’nam | SRH | 137-8 (20) | RPS | 133-8 (20) | SRH won by 4 runs |
| 12-05-2016 | Hyderabad | SRH | 146-8 (20) | DD | 150-3 (18.1) | DD won by 7 wickets |
| 15-05-2016 | Mohali | KXIP | 179-4 (20) | SRH | 180-3 (19.4) | SRH won by 7 wickets |
| 20-05-2016 | Raipur | SRH | 158-7 (20) | DD | 161-4 (20) | DD won by 6 wickets |
| 22-05-2016 | Kolkata | KKR | 171-6 (20) | SRH | 149-8 (20) | KKR won by 22 runs |
| 25-05-2016 | Delhi | SRH | 162-8 (20) | KKR | 140-8 (20) | SRH won by 22 runs |
| 27-05-2016 | Delhi | GL | 162-7 (20) | SRH | 163-6 (19.2) | SRH won by 4 wickets |
RANKING IN GROUP STAGE
| Rank | Team | Mts | Won | Lost | NR | Points | NRR |
| 2nd | R Challengers Bangalore | 14 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 14 | +0.932 |
| 3rd | Sunrisers Hyderabad | 14 | 8 | 6 | 0 | 16 | +0.245 |
The contest between RCB and Sunrisers can be easily summed up as the contest between the best batting side and best bowling side in the tournament as is clear from the following tables:
BEST BATTING SIDES IN IPL 9
| Runs per wkt | Runs per over | Boundary% | 4s hit | 6s hit | |
| Royal Challengers Bangalore | 43.45 | 9.60 | 60.63 | 228 | 129 |
| Kolkata Knight Riders | 29.78 | 8.32 | 51.52 | 194 | 65 |
| Mumbai Indians | 26.12 | 8.16 | 58.89 | 185 | 92 |
| Rising Pune Supergiants | 30.79 | 8.14 | 52.93 | 171 | 68 |
| Gujarat Lions | 24.02 | 8.08 | 54.94 | 242 | 63 |
| Sunrisers Hyderabad | 27.39 | 8.00 | 53.47 | 211 | 79 |
| Delhi Daredevils | 27.32 | 7.94 | 52.57 | 179 | 65 |
| Kings XI Punjab | 23.45 | 7.92 | 50.98 | 191 | 54 |
BEST BOWLING SIDES IN IPL 9
| Runs per wkt | Runs per over | Boundary% | 4s con'd | 6s con'd | |
| Sunrisers Hyderabad | 26.15 | 7.83 | 52.44 | 210 | 68 |
| Delhi Daredevils | 27.36 | 8.07 | 53.25 | 192 | 59 |
| Rising Pune Supergiants | 27.80 | 8.15 | 53.86 | 172 | 75 |
| Kolkata Knight Riders | 24.69 | 8.21 | 56.10 | 192 | 89 |
| Mumbai Indians | 32.21 | 8.23 | 53.61 | 181 | 75 |
| Gujarat Lions | 32.19 | 8.45 | 55.70 | 225 | 92 |
| Kings XI Punjab | 30.59 | 8.56 | 55.89 | 207 | 70 |
| Royal Challengers Bangalore | 27.51 | 8.72 | 56.33 | 222 | 87 |
Virat Kohli and David Warner have been in great form this season, taking the burden of their teams' batting on their shoulders.
While Virat has scored 33% of all the runs scored by RCB, Warner is not far behind, scoring 31.6% of the runs scored by the Sunrisers.
HIGHEST CONTRIBUTION OF TEAM RUNS IN IPL 9
| For | Inns | Runs | Team Runs | %Team Runs | |
| V Kohli | RCB | 15 | 919 | 2781 | 33.05 |
| DA Warner | SRH | 16 | 779 | 2465 | 31.60 |
| AB de Villiers | RCB | 15 | 682 | 2781 | 24.52 |
| F du Plessis | RPS | 6 | 206 | 867 | 23.76 |
| AM Rahane | RPS | 14 | 480 | 2063 | 23.27 |
| Q de Kock | DD | 13 | 445 | 1942 | 22.91 |
| RG Sharma | MI | 14 | 489 | 2194 | 22.29 |
| G Gambhir | KKR | 15 | 501 | 2263 | 22.14 |
| SPD Smith | RPS | 7 | 270 | 1221 | 22.11 |
| M Vijay | KXIP | 14 | 453 | 2134 | 21.23 |
The head to head record between RCB and Sunrisers has been pretty even, overall as well as in this edition. RCB, though have a clear advantage at the home ground.
HEAD TO HEAD IN IPL
| Mts | RCB | SRH | No Result | |
| Overall | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 |
| at Bangalore | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 |
| in IPL 2016 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
PREVIOUS MEETINGS BETWEEN TWO TEAMS IN IPL 9
| Date | Venue | Batted 1st | Batted | Result | ||
| 12-04-2016 | Bangalore | RCB | 227-4 (20) | SRH | 182-6 (20) | RCB won by 45 runs |
| 30-04-2016 | Hyderabad | SRH | 194-5 (20) | RCB | 179-6 (20) | SRH won by 15 runs |
Both ECB and Sunrisers have had more success batting second, but their record batting first is not poor either.
In fact, RCB's five wins are the most by a side batting first in the tournament, Sunrisers are second with four such wins.
ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE IN IPL 9
| Mts | Won | Lost | NR | Win% | |
| Batting first | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Batting second | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 80.00 |
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD IN IPL 9
| Mts | Won | Lost | NR | Win% | |
| Batting first | 8 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 50.00 |
| Batting second | 8 | 6 | 2 | 0 | 75.00 |
AVERAGE FIRST INNINGS SCORE IN IPL 9
| RCB: | For: 192 | Vs: 173 | ||
| SRH: | For: 154 | Vs: 161 |
The following table gives details of pattern of scoring for two teams in the tournament.
RCB have consumed fewer dot balls, taken more singles, twos and threes; and hit more boundaries.
PATTERN OF SCORING IN IPL 9 (BATTING)
| Royal Challengers Bangalore | Sunrisers Hyderabad | |
| Dot% | 31.01 | 37.70 |
| 1s,2s,3s% | 48.57 | 46.63 |
| 4s,5s,6s% | 20.42 | 15.67 |
This is how two teams have conceded runs off their bowling in IPL 2016.
SRH have bowled higher percentage of dots and allowed fewer boundaries.
PATTERN OF SCORING IN IPL 9 (BOWLING)
| Royal Challengers Bangalore | Sunrisers Hyderabad | |
| Dot% | 34.08 | 36.11 |
| 1s,2s,3s% | 48.04 | 48.60 |
| 4s,5s,6s% | 17.88 | 15.29 |
Following is a summary of the two teams' scoring rate at different stages of innings: First 6 overs, middle 9 overs and last 5 overs.
Among all teams RCB are the 2nd best in the first 6, best in the middle 9 and best in the last 5.
SRH are the 4th best in the first 6, worst in the middle 9 and joint 5th best in the last 5.
BATTING RUN-RATES IN DIFFERENT STAGES IN IPL 9
| 1 to 6 | 7 to 15 | 16 to 20 | |
| Royal Challengers Bangalore | 7.99 | 9.10 | 12.90 |
| Sunrisers Hyderabad | 7.72 | 7.43 | 9.59 |
A summary of the economy rate of the two teams in different stages.
SRH are the best in the first 6, 6th best in the middle 9 and the best in the last 5.
RCB are in the bottom half in all the three stages.
BOWLING RUN-RATES IN DIFFERENT STAGES IN IPL 9
| 1 to 6 | 7 to 15 | 16 to 20 | |
| Royal Challengers Bangalore | 7.98 | 8.27 | 10.72 |
| Sunrisers Hyderabad | 6.77 | 8.00 | 8.97 |
This is how pacers and spinners have performed for the two teams in the tournament.
Both the teams have pace-dominated attacks so much so that spinners have accounted for only 5 wickets for the Sunrisers in the whole tournament! <./p>
The 26% of RCB's wickets by spinners have mostly gone to Yuzvendra Chahal's leg-spin.
PACE VS SPIN IN IPL 9: RCB
| Wkts | Best | Avg | RPO | Wkts% | |
| Pace | 78 | 4-23 | 31.42 | 8.53 | 74% |
| Spin | 28 | 3-27 | 33.39 | 8.56 | 26% |
PACE VS SPIN IN IPL 9: SUNRISERS
| Wkts | Best | Avg | RPO | Wkts% | |
| Pace | 78 | 4/29 | 24.59 | 7.51 | 94% |
| Spin | 5 | 2/16 | 86.20 | 8.89 | 6% |
RCB BATSMEN IN IPL 9
| Mts | Inns | NO | Runs | Hs | Avg | 100s | 50s | 0s | SR | |
| V Kohli | 15 | 15 | 4 | 919 | 113 | 83.55 | 4 | 6 | 1 | 151.90 |
| AB de Villiers | 15 | 15 | 3 | 682 | 129* | 56.83 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 170.07 |
| KL Rahul | 13 | 11 | 3 | 386 | 68* | 48.25 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 147.33 |
| SR Watson | 15 | 14 | 2 | 168 | 36 | 14.00 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 134.40 |
| CH Gayle | 9 | 9 | 0 | 151 | 73 | 16.78 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 134.82 |
| S Baby | 10 | 5 | 1 | 101 | 33 | 25.25 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 146.38 |
| SN Khan | 5 | 4 | 2 | 66 | 35* | 33.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 212.90 |
| STR Binny | 13 | 5 | 2 | 54 | 21 | 18.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 168.75 |
| TM Head | 3 | 3 | 1 | 54 | 37 | 27.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 135.00 |
| KM Jadhav | 4 | 3 | 3 | 42 | 25* | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 131.25 |
| Iqbal Abdulla | 7 | 1 | 1 | 33 | 33* | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 132.00 |
| Parvez Rasool | 4 | 1 | 0 | 10 | 10 | 10.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 111.11 |
| D Wiese | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5* | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 125.00 |
| KW Richardson | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1* | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| VR Aaron | 8 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0* | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| S Aravind | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| YS Chahal | 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| CJ Jordan | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| Mandeep Singh | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| AF Milne | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| HV Patel | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0* | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| T Shamsi | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
ROYAL CHALLENGERS BOWLERS IN IPL 9
| Mts | Balls | Mdns | Runs | Wkts | Best | Avg | SR | RPO | 4W | |
| SR Watson | 15 | 315 | 0 | 424 | 20 | 4-29 | 21.20 | 15.75 | 8.08 | 1 |
| YS Chahal | 12 | 271 | 0 | 366 | 20 | 4-25 | 18.30 | 13.55 | 8.10 | 1 |
| S Aravind | 8 | 151 | 0 | 186 | 9 | 2-18 | 20.67 | 16.78 | 7.39 | 0 |
| CJ Jordan | 8 | 144 | 0 | 213 | 8 | 4-11 | 26.63 | 18.00 | 8.88 | 1 |
| KW Richardson | 4 | 84 | 0 | 136 | 7 | 3-13 | 19.43 | 12.00 | 9.71 | 0 |
| Iqbal Abdulla | 7 | 144 | 0 | 203 | 6 | 3-40 | 33.83 | 24.00 | 8.46 | 0 |
| T Shamsi | 4 | 96 | 0 | 147 | 3 | 1-21 | 49.00 | 32.00 | 9.19 | 0 |
| S Baby | 10 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 2 | 2-4 | 4.00 | 5.00 | 4.80 | 0 |
| CH Gayle | 9 | 42 | 0 | 39 | 2 | 2-11 | 19.50 | 21.00 | 5.57 | 0 |
| VR Aaron | 8 | 142 | 0 | 227 | 2 | 2-37 | 113.50 | 71.00 | 9.59 | 0 |
| STR Binny | 13 | 102 | 0 | 134 | 1 | 1-17 | 134.00 | 102.00 | 7.88 | 0 |
| Parvez Rasool | 4 | 84 | 0 | 129 | 1 | 1-31 | 129.00 | 84.00 | 9.21 | 0 |
| HV Patel | 5 | 84 | 0 | 147 | 1 | 1-46 | 147.00 | 84.00 | 10.50 | 0 |
| AF Milne | 1 | 24 | 0 | 43 | 1 | 1-43 | 43.00 | 24.00 | 10.75 | 0 |
| D Wiese | 1 | 24 | 0 | 49 | 0 | 0-49 | - | - | 12.25 | 0 |
| V Kohli | 15 | 6 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 0-13 | - | - | 13.00 | 0 |
| AB de Villiers | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 0 |
| TM Head | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 0 |
| KM Jadhav | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 0 |
| SN Khan | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 0 |
| Mandeep Singh | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 0 |
| KL Rahul | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 0 |
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD BATSMEN IN IPL 9
| Mts | Inns | NO | Runs | Hs | Avg | 100s | 50s | 0s | SR | |
| DA Warner | 16 | 16 | 3 | 779 | 93* | 59.92 | 0 | 8 | 1 | 149.23 |
| S Dhawan | 16 | 16 | 4 | 473 | 82* | 39.42 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 117.08 |
| Yuvraj Singh | 9 | 9 | 1 | 198 | 44 | 24.75 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 126.92 |
| MC Henriques | 16 | 14 | 3 | 178 | 31* | 16.18 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 116.34 |
| DJ Hooda | 16 | 14 | 1 | 141 | 34 | 10.85 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 122.61 |
| NV Ojha | 16 | 12 | 3 | 129 | 37 | 14.33 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 96.27 |
| KS Williamson | 6 | 6 | 0 | 124 | 50 | 20.67 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 101.64 |
| EJG Morgan | 7 | 6 | 1 | 123 | 51 | 24.60 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 117.14 |
| A Ashish Reddy | 4 | 3 | 1 | 47 | 32 | 23.50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 162.07 |
| B Sharma | 6 | 3 | 2 | 46 | 27* | 46.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 209.09 |
| Bhuvneshwar Kumar | 16 | 7 | 1 | 42 | 21 | 7.00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 161.54 |
| KV Sharma | 5 | 3 | 3 | 36 | 26* | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 120.00 |
| BCJ Cutting | 3 | 3 | 1 | 26 | 18* | 13.00 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 136.84 |
| AP Tare | 3 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 8 | 4.00 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 53.33 |
| B Sran | 13 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 2* | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| A Nehra | 8 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1* | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | 100.00 |
| TA Boult | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
| Mustafizur Rahman | 15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | 0 | 0 | 0 | - |
SUNRISERS HYDERABAD BOWLERS IN IPL 9
| Mts | Balls | Mdns | Runs | Wkts | Best | Avg | SR | RPO | 4W | |
| Bhuvneshwar Kumar | 16 | 372 | 3 | 465 | 23 | 4-29 | 20.22 | 16.17 | 7.50 | 1 |
| Mustafizur Rahman | 15 | 342 | 1 | 384 | 16 | 3-16 | 24.00 | 21.38 | 6.74 | 0 |
| B Sran | 13 | 279 | 0 | 372 | 13 | 3-28 | 28.62 | 21.46 | 8.00 | 0 |
| MC Henriques | 16 | 294 | 0 | 375 | 12 | 2-17 | 31.25 | 24.50 | 7.65 | 0 |
| A Nehra | 8 | 156 | 1 | 199 | 9 | 3-15 | 22.11 | 17.33 | 7.65 | 0 |
| BCJ Cutting | 3 | 43 | 0 | 45 | 3 | 2-20 | 15.00 | 14.33 | 6.28 | 0 |
| DJ Hooda | 16 | 78 | 0 | 97 | 3 | 2-16 | 32.33 | 26.00 | 7.46 | 0 |
| B Sharma | 6 | 72 | 0 | 104 | 2 | 1-10 | 52.00 | 36.00 | 8.67 | 0 |
| TA Boult | 1 | 24 | 0 | 39 | 1 | 1-39 | 39.00 | 24.00 | 9.75 | 0 |
| A Ashish Reddy | 4 | 23 | 0 | 39 | 1 | 1-14 | 39.00 | 23.00 | 10.17 | 0 |
| KS Williamson | 6 | 6 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 0-7 | - | - | 7.00 | 0 |
| Yuvraj Singh | 9 | 37 | 0 | 52 | 0 | 0-7 | - | - | 8.43 | 0 |
| KV Sharma | 5 | 98 | 0 | 171 | 0 | 0-24 | - | - | 10.47 | 0 |
| S Dhawan | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 0 |
| EJG Morgan | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 0 |
| NV Ojha | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 0 |
| AP Tare | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 0 |
| DA Warner | 16 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | 0 |
VENUE STATS
MATCHES AT BANGALORE IN IPL 9:
Matches: 8
Batting 1st won: 3 (38%)
Batting 2nd won: 5 (62%)
AVERAGE FIRST INNINGS SCORE AT BANGALORE IN IPL: 195
PACE VS SPIN AT BANGALORE IN IPL 9:
| Wkts | Best | Avg | RPO | Wkts% | |
| Pace | 55 | 4/11 | 32.71 | 9.19 | 67% |
| Spin | 27 | 4/25 | 37.22 | 9.41 | 33% |
