As it happened: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Sunrisers Hyderabad, IPL 2022, Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai

The record is Mumbai's having beaten Knight Riders in 2008 with 87 balls remaining

Fifteen balls. Seven boundaries. Sunrisers are 41 for 0 in the fifth over. That's more than halfway to their target.

T Natarajan. One of the best at the top and One of the best at the tail.

He's been injured for a while. That took away his chance to play in a T20 World Cup. When the squad was chosen for the 2021 edition, he knew he had no chance of making the squad. Best case scenario, he hoped he'd go as a net bowler.

Now, with 2022, around the corner, the left-arm quick is showing how much of an asset he can be. His pace isn't scary. But his control is top notch. He's honed it through immense adversity. And he's doing this not just for him but - and not just for his country - but for the people back in his hometown - his friends, his juniors - who look up to him and dream that they too can go from abject poverty to nation-wide super star.

With motivation like that, he will NEVER let up.

Kane Williamson. Take a bowl.

He's won seven tosses in eight games. That's the cricketing equivalent of pulling a rabbit out of a hat.

Williamson isn't satisfied with that though. He knows he can do more. He knows he can pull rhinos out of that hat.

The moment he saw the presence of some seam movement in the first over, he gave Marco Jansen a couple of slips. BAM. Virat Kohli caught at second slip.

Dinesh Karthik is a phenomenal sweeper of the ball. He went for one tonight, but only feathered it through to the keeper. The umpire didn't give it out. So Williamson knew what he had to do. DRS. Bingo.

He unleashed his fastest bowler on the Sunrisers tail. BAM wicket. He recalled his yorker specialst in the 13th over with RCB seven down. BAM wicket.

RCB are 58 for 8 in the 14th over. Teams have scored more in the powerplay of a T20 game.

RCB are floundering. Dinesh Karthik, perhaps the team's last hope, is now gone. And in a summary of his entire career - at least at IPL level and above - he seems really really great at coming in at the end and bashing the ball all over the park.

But having to start from scratch ends up being a bridge too far. It's weird. DK's done it millions of time for Tamil Nadu and yet...

Anyway, here's how RCB's predicted score has been crashing

RCB are 49 for 7 in 10 overs The curse of April 23. This is what happened five years ago

Um, so, Maxi. What was that?

He's been very very adamant about attacking the bowlers any time he's been at the crease this IPL, which is fair, he is among the best ball-strikers in the entire world.

But is he really giving himself enough of a chance to influence games?

He made a fifty against Capitals, and even then, RCB needed Karthik to finish the job he started.

There has to be a better way to make the most of his ridiculous talent.

Side note on Kohli: He should just chill. But he probably can't because he wants to (a) do well for RCB and (b) play next year's World Cup.

Now, Kohli's done way more than enough to walk into an Indian XI no questions asked, but remember, he is no longer captain. He doesn't bowl. He also tends to be an accumulator of runs in an age where everyone wants a player who goes from ball one. Just as a thought exercise, imagine Sanju Samson at No. 3 on those Australian pitches with true bounce.

Kohli cannot take his place for granted anymore. So he's still here. And he's struggling.

Left-arm carnage!

T Natarajan comes on to replace Marco Jansen and with his second ball, he has Glenn Maxwell caught at mid-off.

This is bonkers cricket.

This is an SRH fever dream. They are, and have always been, one of the best bowling attacks in the IPL. But questions were raised when they began this season with two straight losses. The biggest of them was how they'll fare without Rashid Khan. Well, given they're trouncing one of the favourites to make the playoffs, it's not so bad, is it?

RCB 20 for 4 in the fifth over. ESPNcricinfo's forecaster says they will only get up to 131 now.

Anuj Rawat is inexperienced. This is the highest level he's played at and he's facing a bowler who has KO-ed two long-serving international captains.

Brabourne is the fast bowler's friend tonight. Tiiiiiiiiny though it is - which is why Maxwell still being out there is dangerous - there is steady sideways movement.

All of it is off the pitch. And it's just enough. Like there are times when there's too much and the ball keeps beating the bat. Here, it beats the middle, but always seems to take the edge.

Rawat is drawn into poking at a good length ball outside the off stump. The seam movement nabs his edge straight through to first slip. RCB are 8 for 3 in the second over. And Jansen has figures of 1-0-3-3

Virat Kohli is the next man in.

All that swagger is still there. And that giant front foot stride too.

He wants to dominate. He sees a ball that he can dominate. It's full. It's there for the drive. He's amazing at the drive.

So he goes for it, but once again, Janson's got this white ball on a string. It decks away again. Once more off the pitch. Beating the middle, taking the edge, and landing safely in the hands of second slip. Good on Sunrisers to keep a second slip.

Stunning fast bowling, and again, IT. IS. NOT. OVER!

Marco Jansen has just put the rage in outrageous!

This is a special ball. An impossible ball. The kind that is endangered in white-ball cricket.

Because it moves.

Big time.

It pitches on a good length, but not so full that Faf du Plessis can just launch that front foot forward.

After pitching, it decks away. Sharply.

du Plessis has great hands, remember. He's scored mountains of runs with that weird split grip because he is able to control his hands so well.

But even he is unable to deal with the ball swerving away from him like that.

Beats the outside edge and nails the off stump and all du Plessis can do is recoil against the sound of his castle coming down.

But wait, there's more! THERE'S SO MUCH MORE!

RCB's Nos 4 to 7 are going at 153.09, which is largely thanks to Glenn Maxwell and of course Dinesh Karthik. And even though they haven't really batted together this season, knowing Karthik is there behind him, has made Maxwell a lot more adventurous.

RCB have the man on top of that list too. So Sunrisers have a task on their hands...

Aside from how cool it sounds to say - Markram vs Maxwell, Markram vs Maxwell, Markram vs Maxwell - these two really do embody how their teams have evolved since the bad old days

The South African came into the IPL on the back of some of the worst form ever. But that was all against the notoriously unfriendly red-ball. Against the much more obliging one, all in white, he's found excellent rhythm, because it's not like he's playing for not-outs. His strike-rate this season is at a very healthy 150.79.

Markram addressed a press conference earlier this season where he was delightfully honest. It was after he had guided the team to a win, but he simply kept talking about how he wanted to learn absolutely everything about batting in the middle order. It's hard, that switch. People succeed a lot more when they're moving up the order. Rohit, Sachin, Buttler. Not many do it the other way around.

Markram is the biggest reason Sunrisers have the best average (49.85) among all the middle orders (Nos 4-7)this season.

Guess who has the best strike rate though?

Kane Williamson is either the most powerful wielder of magic in the world (Move over, HP) or he's spent way too much time figuring out which way a coin will fall. Both of those things are probably equally likely. He's won his seventh toss in the IPL - SEVEN! - and his team will, predictably, be bowling first. Both teams are unchanged, which reflects the way they've been playing - four wins in their last five matches.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: 1 Faf du Plessis (capt), 2 Anuj Rawat, 3 Virat Kohli, 4 Glenn Maxwell, 5 Dinesh Karthik (wk), 6 Suyash Prabhudessai, 7 Shahbaz Ahmed, 8 Wanindu Hasaranga, 9 Josh Hazlewood, 10 Harshal Patel, 11 Mohammed Siraj

Sunrisers Hyderabad: 1 Abhishek Sharma, 2 Kane Williamson (capt), 3 Rahul Tripathi, 4 Aiden Markram, 5 Nicholas Pooran (wk), 6 Shashank Singh, 7 Marco Jansen, 8 J Suchith, 9 Bhuvneshwar Kumar, 10 Umran Malik, 11 T Natarajan

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