Images from Monday's IPL match between Royal Challengers Bangalore and SunRisers Hyderabad, in Dubai.
Devdutt Padikkal starred on debut before Yuvzvendra Chahal produced a crafty spell to set up a 10-run victory for Royal Challengers Bangalore in their opening IPL match, against SunRisers Hyderabad, in Dubai, on Monday.
Padikkal (56 off 42, 8 fours) displayed his highly-rated talent with a half-century before AB de Villiers (51 of 30) provided the much-needed final flourish to take Royal Challengers to 163 for five after they were sent in to bat.
Chasing 164 for victory, Sunrisers were all out for 153 in 19.4 overs.
SunRisers Hyderabad appeared on course for a comfortable chase with Jonny Bairstow (61 off 43) looking in ominous touch, but Chahal (3/18) removed the Englishman and Vijay Shankar in successive deliveries in the 16th over to tilt the game decisively for Royal Challengers.
Bairstow perished in his attempt to hoick Chahal out of the park, while Shankar had no clue about a perfectly placed googly.
That double blow led to a batting collapse, exposing SunRisers' inexperienced middle-order.
Mitchell Marsh, who sustained an ankle injury while bowling, cam in at No. 10, but could only last a ball.
Pacer Navdeep Saini (2/25) and Shivam Dube (2/15) also returned tidy figures but Umesh Yadav was expensive for RCB yet again, leaking 48 runs in four overs.
Earlier, SunRisers pulled things back in the middle overs following a 90-run opening stand between Padikkal and Finch, but De Villiers came up with crucial boundary hits towards the end to take the team past 160.
The 20-year-old Padikkal, demonstrated near-perfect balance at the crease. He dispatched the ball to all corners of the ground, playing the pull and aerial cover drive with equal confidence.
The Karnataka batsman got going with three boundaries in an over off left-arm pacer T Natarajan. The left-handed opener brought up his half-century with a slog sweep over the fielder at deep square leg.
With the openers looking good, Royal Challengers cruised to 86 for no loss in 10 overs. However, both Padikkal and Finch fell off successive deliveries and that put the brakes on the scoring rate as RCB collected only 30 runs from the next five overs.
Skipper Virat Kohli departed after scoring 14 off 13, leaving de Villiers to provide the final flourish. The South African star delivered once again, smashing his 200th six for RCB in the process.
There was also an injury scare for Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh, who limped off the field with an ankle injury after bowling just four balls in his debut game for the SunRisers.
