In a high-scoring encounter dotted with heart-stopping moments, Kolkata Knight Riders rode on skipper Shreyas Iyer’s half-century and Andre Russell’s excellent all-round showing to manage an exciting one-run win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Indian Premier League at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on April 21.
Inserted on a batter-friendly track, KKR erected 222 before thwarting RCB’s spirited chase to post its fifth win. Even in a different uniform, RCB suffered its sixth straight defeat.
With RCB needing 21 in the last over, Karn Sharma unbelievably punished Mitchell Starc in his seven-ball 20 before being dismissed by the Aussie. With three needed off the last ball, wicketkeeper Phil Salt’s spectacular diving run out stopped RCB just at the brink.
During RCB’s reply, Harshit Rana surprised Kohli with a high full toss and took a catch. The third umpire found it to be a legal delivery and gave Kohli out to the dismay of the batter.
After Faf du Plessis’ departure, Will Jacks (55) and Rajat Patidar (52) counter-attacked. Jacks, who dominated the leg-side, mercilessly clobbered bowlers. Jacks, who scored 22 off a Starc over, formed a 102-run association with Patidar, who effortlessly clubbed the spinners, in 48 balls.
KKR’s lucky mascot Russell provided crucial breakthroughs by accounting for both in the 12th over.
Narine scalped Green and Mahipal Lomror in the next over before KKR bowlers, led by the superb Harshit and Russell, excelled in the death.
Breezy start
Earlier, Salt gave a fine exhibition of clean stroke-play to set up a solid platform for KKR. Salt (48), who hammered 28 off Lockie Ferguson’s first over, put up a breezy 56-run partnership with Sunil Narine before falling to Mohammad Siraj.
Yash Dayal dismissed Narine and Angkrish Raghuvanshi in the sixth over and Cameron Green removed Venkatesh Iyer in the ninth.
Shreyas and Rinku Singh batted sensibly to add 40.
Shreyas executed his shots smartly on either side as he drove, pulled, reverse-hit and uppercut in his first fifty of the season.
Russell and Ramandeep Singh plundered 36 runs in the last two to take the host past 200 for the fourth time.
Scoreboard
Kolkata Knight Riders innings: Phil Salt c Patidar b Siraj 48 Sunil Narine c Kohli b Dayal 10 Angkrish Raghuvanshi c Green b Dayal 3 Venkatesh Iyer c Lomror b Green 16 Shreyas Iyer (c) c du Plessis b Green 50 Rinku Singh c Dayal b Ferguson 24 Andre Russell not out 27 Ramandeep Singh not out 24 Extras: (B-4, LB-7, NB-2, W-7) 20
Total: (For 6 wickets in 20 overs) 222
Fall of wickets: 1-56, 2-66, 3-75, 4-97, 5-137, 6-179.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru bowling: Mohammed Siraj 4-0-40-1, Yash Dayal 4-0-56-2, Lockie Ferguson 4-0-47-1, Karn Sharma 4-0-33-0, Cameron Green 4-0-35-2.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru innings: Virat Kohli c & b Harshit 18 Faf du Plessis (c) c Venkatesh b Chakravarthy 7 Will Jacks c Raghuvanshi b Russell 55 Rajat Patidar c Harshit b Russell 52 Cameron Green c Ramandeep b Narine 6 Suyash Prabhudessai c Raghuvanshi b Harshit 24 Mahipal Lomror c & b Narine 4 Dinesh Karthik c Salt b Russell 25 Karn Sharma c & b Starc 20 Mohammed Siraj not out 0 Lockie Ferguson run out 1 Extras: (B-1, LB-4, W-4) 9
Total: (All out in 20 overs) 221
Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-35, 3-137, 4-138, 5-151, 6-155, 7-187, 8-202, 9-220, 10-221.
Kolkata Knight Riders bowling: Harshit Rana 4-0-33-2, Mitchell Starc 3-0-55-1, Varun Chakravarthy 4-0-36-1, Sunil Narine 4-0-34-2, Suyash Sharma 2-0-33-0, Andre Russell 3-0-25-3.
