Hyerabad beat Bangalore in IPL opener
Defending champions Sunrisers Hyderabad rode on a solid top order contribution and some disciplined bowling to defeat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 35 runs in the opening match of the 2017 Indian Premier League (IPL) here on Wednesday. Asked to bat first by the visitors, Hyderabad posted a commanding 207/4 in their allotted 20 overs at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium. In reply, RCB were bowled out for 172 runs in 19.4 overs. RCB started their chase in explosive fashion as Chris Gayle and Mandeep Singh scored around 10 runs an over in the first five overs. The visitors suffered their first blow when a Rashid Khan delivery found an inside edge off Mandeep's bat before hitting the stumps. They suffered a bigger blow in the next over when Gayle slightly mistimed a shot off Deepak Hooda only to offer a skier to David Warner at long-off. Kedar Jadhav and Travis Head gave RCB a glimmer of hope with a 56-run stand off 31 balls but Ben Cutting prod...