BENGALURU: With a scintillating batting display, the Kolkata Knight Riders became the first team to win away from home in this IPL following their comprehensive seven-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru on Friday at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
The tone of the game was set on the second ball of the first over when Philip Salt smoked the ball for a six over midwicket. In the next ball, within a blink of an eye, the ball was dispatched for a four. Salt struck another six to put the RCB on the backfoot. Mohammed Siraj, who bowled the first over of the inning, conceded 18 runs while defending 183.
Sunil Narine, who played his 500th T20 game, joined the party and both batters stiched up an opening stand of 86 runs.
After the opening pair was dimissed, Venkatesh Iyer and skipper Shreyas Iyer drove KKR’s innings with some excaeptional stroke play.
Venkatesh completed his 50 in 29 balls but ended up losing his wicket on the next ball. Iyer and Rinku Singh stayed till the end to ensure RCB got across the finishing line with more than three overs to spare.
Earlier in the innings, put to bat, RCB batters Faf Du Plessis and Virat Kohli came out to the crease to open the innings.
Both batters put on a partnership of 17 runs and skipper Du Plessis was sent back to the pavillion after scoring eight runs.
After the skipper’s dismissal, right-hand batter Cameron Green came to bat. The side completed their 50 on the fourth ball of the sixth over as Green slammed a boundary on the bowling of Sunil Narine.
Kohli and Green completed their 50-run partnership.
The Australian all-rounder was dismissed by Andre Russell on the last ball of the ninth over when the team score was 82 after, having scored 33 runs off 21 balls with the help of four boundaries and two sixes.
Green’s dismissal saw the arrival of power hitter Glenn Maxwell.
Kohli completed his 50 in the 11th over as he took a single on the bowling of Varun Chakravarthy. In the same over, the Bengaluru franchise crossed the 100-run mark as Maxwell smashed a boundary on the penultimate ball of the over.
Maxwell was dismissed after scoring 28 runs on 19 balls with three fours and a six. The right-hand batter was dismissed by Narine.
After Maxwell’s wicket, Rajat Patidar came to bat. He was dismissed when the team score was 144. The right-hand batter scored just three runs before going back to the dressing room.
After Patider’s departure, wicketkeeper-batter Anuj Rawat came to bat. He was able to score only three runs before getting dismissed in the 18th over with a score of 151.
In the end, Dinesh Karthik played a quicfire cameo of 20 runs from just eight balls with the help of three maximums and Kohli finished his innings with an unbeaten 83 runs in 59 balls, which was laced with four boundaries and four sxes.
For KKR, two wickets each were grabbed by Harshit Rana and Russell One wicket was bagged by Sunil Narine.
Brief Score: Royal Challengers Bengaluru 182/6 in 20 overs (Virat Kohli 83*, Cameron Green 33, Andre Russell 2/29) vs Kolkata Knight Riders 186/3 (Venkatesh Iyer 50, Sunil Narine 47; Shreyas Iyer 39*; Vijaykumar Vyshak 1-23). (ANI)