RCB was beaten by KKR by seven wickets.
At the M Chinnawamy Stadium, Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Royal Challengers Bengaluru by a margin of seven wickets. Virat Kohli gave the hosts an explosive start on a day filled with pyrotechnics, but the KKR bowlers showed great bravery by rallying towards the end of the innings to give the visitors the upper hand. To put it mildly, Anukul Roy and Harshit Rana were outstanding as the RCB scored 182 runs in the opening half.
The fact that no other hitter was able to provide support for Kohli in the middle despite his 83 runs off 59 deliveries compounded matters for the RCB. Dinesh Karthik and Cameron Green made brief appearances for RCB, but their inability to form a cohesive unit allowed KKR to limit them to 182 runs.
When it came to the chase, KKR had an incredible start thanks to Sunil Narine and Phil Salt. After Mohammed Siraj’s opening over, in which Salt hammered eighteen runs, Narine took care of the rest. To set the tone for KKR, the seasoned all-rounder hammered 47 runs off of 22 deliveries. Venkatesh Iyer assumed the reins after he returned to the pavilion and scored an outstanding fifty-score.
See Also: Sunil Narine kills the RCB in Bengaluru with a 22-ball 47.
However, Shreyas Iyer performed admirably, scoring 39* off 24 deliveries to help them win by seven wickets and climb to the top of the points table.
1. The One-Man Army, Virat Kohli
Once again, Virat Kohli was the man to rise to the situation and assist RCB in putting up a respectable score. It wasn’t easy for any batter on a two-paced surface, but the 35-year-old got going and scored 83* runs in the midst of the inning. Though his strike rate of 140.68 appears to be a problem, the cricket player shouldn’t be too concerned because there wasn’t much help at the other end.
2. The Narine show returns.
The hitter Sunil Narine returned to the Indian Premier League with a bang. Surprisingly, KKR sent him to open against Hyderabad, but the player was unable to capitalize. He did, however, cause mayhem and smash sixes for fun against RCB, which was a major factor in the visitors’ victory at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
3. Bowlers from home made the effort
Domestic bowlers Harshit Rana, Anukul Roy, and Vijaykumar Vyshak stood up and demonstrated their abilities on a night when 368 runs were scored. Faf du Plessis and Anuj Rawat were taken out by Rana twice, while Roy conceded only six runs in his two overs. In the meantime, Vyshak dismissed Phil Salt after conceding 23 runs in his four overs.
Captain Faf du Plessis, who is out, said:
Strange one, first innings we thought that the wicket was two-paced, you could see that when the guys bowled the cutters, the guys really struggled. We thought it was a decent score knowing that it gets a little easier in the evening, there was a little bit of dew coming in. Looking at the way we batted in the first innings, even Virat was struggling to hit the ball due to the lack of pace. You can always say after the game, try one or two things but the way the two of them (Narine and Slat) batted, they put pressure on our bowlers. They hit strong cricket shots and pretty much took the game away. With Narine there, you can’t go to spin, you want to use pace upfront. That’s also a really good match-up for Salt and the way he plays. They were excellent, really broke the game in the first six overs. Spinning options with Maxi and finger-spinning can be effective here, but at night there wasn’t too much spin, With left-hand, right-hand combination, it’s one of those things, you can bowl a spinner. We saw when Venky was playing, it felt like an easy hit against left-arm spin. Ideally you want someone who can spin the ball both ways but with the set-up of our team tonight, we didn’t have that option. (On Vyshak) Very good, he hasn’t had opportunities. We had a look in the first innings and thought about bringing in Karn Sharma. But we felt someone who could bowl really good slower balls is probably the most difficult bowler to face on this pitch. Dre Russ bowled 80% of his balls cutters. We took some learnings from that and he was the best bowler of the evening.
Shreyas Iyer, the winning skipper, stated:
Coming here, getting those two sessions of practice, we were in a good shape from the previous game. Coming and hitting few balls, it felt comfortable from within. The way Russell came in and realised the wicket wasn’t giving much from bowlers, and went to slower ones, analysing the conditions on the spot was pleasing to the eye. The communication was brilliant. See when Narine comes in to open, he knows he has one job which is to clear the infield. Today we were contemplating whether to start with him or not but he did a brilliant job. From one end, it was good to bat on. From the other end it was two paced. That was the communication we had in the middle and we passed it onto others. Would be spending a day tomorrow in Bangalore, and then go to Vizag. I’m not expecting much at this point of time – it’s just the start of the tournament. Want to enjoy each other’s success – that’s the plan for now.
Sunil Narine, POTM, stated:
It’s a nice milestone (500 T20s). Hopefully 500 more to come. It’s just the self belief and the support staff giving the encouragement. Also the hard work. Powerplay over is the hardest over – just have to let that go and keep it tight. Helps when you win. Players have full freedom to do what they want to do.
