BENGALURU: Jason Roy’s blistering 50 and spinners Varun Chakravarthy and Suyash Sharma’s bowling performance shuddered Royal Challengers Bangalore’s batting, with KKR winning by 21 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Wednesday.
Virat Kohli alone showed some fighting spirit with his 54 off 37 balls. KKR spinner became key in the win. Varun took a three-wicket haul, and impact player Suyash dismissed two batters. All-rounder Andre Russell also took two wickets.
Chasing a total of 201, Bangalore looked to hit from the first ball. RCB reliable batter Faf du Plessis gathered quick runs in two overs hitting three fours and two sixes.
KKR skipper brought spinner Suyash early, knowing that RCB batters struggle with the spin. Suyash did the job and took the big wicket of Faf at 17 off 7 balls.
KKR set RCB on back foot with two wickets by Suyash Sharma and Varun Chakravarthy of Shahbaz Ahmed (2) and Glenn Maxwell (5).
After the two pillars of RCB batting, Faf and Maxwell gone early, all the responsibility fell on Virat’s lap. He brought his 50 in 32 balls. Mahipal Lomror’s innings came to an end in the 12th over, Varun took his wicket. Lomror was dismissed for 34 off 18 balls. His knock consisted of 1 four and three sixes.
With the pressure of increasing run rate, Virat was dismissed in the 13th over of Russell’s bowling. RCB’s batting unit shuddered after Virat’s dismissal, Bangalore was bundled out at 179/8 in 20 overs. Dinesh Karthik, the side’s designated finisher, failed to make an impact, scoring 22 off 18 balls.
Varun was the pick of the bowlers for RCB, taking 3/27 in four overs. Suyash Sharma and Andre Russell took two wickets. Earlier, Jason Roy’s blistering fifty and skipper Nitish Rana’s steering innings helped Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) post 200/5 against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the Indian Premier League on Wednesday.
Jason Roy scored a dashing 56 runs off 29 balls, and Nitish Rana continued the momentum with 48 off 21 balls with the helping knock of Venkatesh Iyer 31 off 26 balls.
Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva took two wickets conceding 24 runs, and Vijaykumar Vyshak also dismissed two batters conceding 41 runs. Mohammed Siraj also took one wicket to again hold the ‘Purple Cap’.
Put to bat first, Kolkata’s in-form batter Jason Roy gave a solid platform to the team. He started steady and then in the 6th over punished Shahbaz Ahmed, hitting four sixes, providing KKR 66/0 after the end of the Power play with Roy (48*) and N Jagadeesan (17*) unbeaten.
The 83-run partnership was broken by Vijaykumar Vyshank who bowled a bouncer which was caught by David Willey at the deep midwicket to dismiss Jagadeesan for 27 off 29 balls. In the same over, RCB got the big blow as Jason, got out at 56 off 29 comprising four fours and five sixes. After the end of 10 overs, Bangalore did a comeback with the scoreboard 88/2.
Steering the innings after the loss of Jason, Venkatesh Iyer attacked Hasaranga de Silva to get the momentum going, adding 100 run mark on the scoreboard for his team in 11.4 overs.
The RCB bowlers built pressure on the opponent with tight lines and length, but RCB fielders did not support their fielding efforts as first Mohammed Siraj dropped the catch of Nitish Rana bowled by Vyshak and then Harshal Patel dropped the catch on the fine leg of Venkatesh.
KKR, in the 16th and 17th overs, tried to accelerate the run rate after Venkatesh hit a four and Nitish hit two consecutive sixes on Harshal’s bowling. And in Vyshaks’ spell, Nitish hit two fours and one sixes. However, next over of Hasaranga turned the game in the favour of RCB, getting well-established batters Nitish (48 off 21 balls) and Venkatesh (31 in 26 balls) out in three balls.
Rinku Singh knew his role, started with third gear, and attacked Siraj with one six and two fours. Siraj in the same over got the wicket of Andre Russell. With two sixes from David Wiese in the last over, KKR posted 200/5, with Rinku (18*) and Wiese (12*) unbeaten.
Brief scores: KKR (Jason Roy 56, Nitish Rana 48, Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva 2/24) won against RCB: 179/8 (Virat Kohli 54, Mahipal Lomror 34, Varun Chakravarthy 3/27). (ANI)