Basil Thampi had an off day against RCB. (Source: BCCI)
Sunrisers Hyderabad seamer Basil Thampi has registered the most expensive spell in the history of Indian Premier League after conceding 70 runs in four overs against Royal Challengers Bangalore on Thursday. Prior to Thampi, Ishant Sharma held the unwanted record with figures of 64/0 in four overs for SRH against CSK in 2013. Thampi was entrusted with the responsibility of bowling in the powerplay but he succumbed to the pressure and gave away 37 runs in his first two overs. He later came back for two more overs towards the end and ended up conceding 33 more. Thampi is renowned for his abilities to hit the deck hard and bowl the toe-crushing yorkers at will but against RCB he missed his line and length consistently and paid the price for it. Most of the SRH bowlers were taken apart by RCB on a belter of a pitch at M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru as the hosts went on to pile up 218/6 in 20 overs. Thampi was not the only bowler who leaked runs as Sandeep Sharma and Siddarth Kaul also gave away runs at more than 10 runs per over.
The unwanted list of bowlers with most expensive figures in IPL features the following players-
2018- 70 runs – Basil Thampi v RCB
2013- 66 runs – Ishant Sharma v CSK
2013- 65 runs – Umesh Yadav v RCB,
2014- 65 runs – Sandeep Sharma v SRH
Earlier, RCB were put into bat after SRH skipper Kane Williamson won the toss. However, the decision was not a wise one as RCB raced past 200. While skipper Virat Kohli departed early with the scoreboard on 38, it was AB de Villiers and Moeen Ali who forged a 100-run partnership to help RCB get past a tricky phase of play and take total command of the situation. Incidentally, RCB now holds the record for most 200 plus scores in IPL- they have done so on 13 occasions.