When the business end of a league like the Indian Premier League (IPL) gets as arithmetic as it has in the ongoing edition, no game is ever just about a straightforward win. Ask Royal Challengers Bengaluru. The defending champion needed to thwart a surrender to Sunrisers Hyderabad by 90-odd runs to prevent its neighbour from crawling up to the top two bracket of the standings.

“We did discuss the various targets. We needed 166 to confirm top two, 179 to confirm top of the league, and obviously 255 to win the game,” head coach Andy Flower explained after RCB’s 55-run loss to SRH on Friday.

The 58-year-old credited Venkatesh Iyer with instilling belief in a curious RCB eleven that featured only three overseas players.

“I thought Venky batted brilliantly up front to give us that impetus. We wanted our batsmen to get a feel of the game and make a decision about whether they wanted to take on the 255 (target) or the 180.”

Venkatesh has been a handy middle-order reinforcement, but has been malleable to any demands made of him in the batting order.

“He’s had to wait for his chance. And every time he’s had a chance, either as an impact player when we’ve needed the extra batsmen because we’ve got ourselves into some trouble in the innings or in the last two matches, when he’s been given a chance, first at number four in Dharamsala and then today opening the batting, he’s taken all of those chances.

“I’ve got a lot of respect for a man who’s played a lot of IPL cricket, played for India, and was sitting on the sidelines waiting for his chance. He’s been in that dugout. He’s had a big smile on his face all the time. He’s worked hard in every single practice session across all three departments. He’s been exemplary, to be honest.”

Losing Venkatesh changed the momentum of RCB’s chase at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium and Flower attributed that to Sunrisers’ mastery over its home conditions.

“SRH’s seamers bowled about 50 per cent slower balls. As the pitch got slower, those balls were gripping and didn’t make batting easy. The team knows these conditions very well and have picked a bowling attack that can exploit these conditions. I think they also just use the two pitches in the middle and know how to use them well,” he added.

Published on May 23, 2026