In a day of low scorers, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kings XI Punjab came away with victories in the IPL 2013.
Sunrisers posted a thrilling Super Over win over Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, to give the home side their second consecutive win of the season.
R Vinay Kumar was the centre of attention as the RCB medium pacer bowled a brilliant final over to take the game to the Super Over, before giving away 20 runs in the decider to hand the win to the Sunrisers.
In a keen contest that was hard-fought for the entire 40 overs, the game expectedly went into the final over with Hyderabad needing seven runs, while chasing a total of 130 for eight posted by RCB in the first innings.
Vinay Kumar, who had bowled a brilliant final spell against the Mumbai Indians in their previous game, did the job yet again, restricting the Hyderabad batsmen to just six, after picking up the crucial wicket of Ashish Reddy in the first ball.
The one-over eliminator took centerstage, with Vinay expectedly handed the responsibility of keeping the scores respectable. It looked like going Vinay's and RCB's way, with the bowler just conceding three runs off his first two balls.
However, Cameron White then decided to take matters into his own hands, smashing the RCB bowler for two sixes in the next three balls to give the Sunrisers a formidable total of 20 runs to defend.
Dale Steyn was called forward, and the South African quickie did just enough, keeping RCB's score at 15 to give his side a thrilling win.
Earlier, some good bowling from both sides saw neither team able to find their batting rhythm. Virat Kohli and Moises Henriques - two players who were playing against each other in the recently concluded India-Australia Test series - scored 46 and 44 respectively to take RCB to that decent total of 130 for eight, as Chris Gayle, for once failed.
Hanuma Vihari was the top scorer for the Sunrisers in their innings with an unbeaten 46-ball 44, with no other batsmen able to kick on despite getting decent starts.
In the first game, Kings XI Punjab picked up the easiest of wins over the beleaguered Pune Warriors India.
PWI, batting first, could manage only 99 for nine from their allotted 20 overs, as some good pace bowling from the likes of Praveen Kumar, Ryan Harris and Azhar Mahmood ensured the home side never gained any momentum.
In reply, it was as easy as apple pie for Kings XI, playing their first game of the tournament, as they reached the target in just 12.2 overs, losing two wickets. Manan Vohra played an enterprising innings of 43 (28b, 7x4) to spearhead the chase.
