(Cricket News) The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ended the streak of home team victories, defeating the Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Chinnaswamy. KKR put up a dominating performance to get better of their arch rivals by 7 wickets and 19 balls to spare.
Virat Kohli’s wonderful effort with the bat did not prove to be enough as RCB managed to put up 182 runs in the first innings, on a track which eventually got better to bat on as the game progressed.
Being put into bat, RCB lost their skipper Du Plesis early on, in the very second over. Cameron Green then joined alongside Virat Kohli and stitched a valuable 65-run partnership, to keep the scoreboard moving. Green was cleaned up by Russell, just when he was looking dangerous. Maxwell, who came into bat at 4, had the luck in his favour, as he was dropped twice, but still failed to make it big.
None of the other batters supported Virat, who batted till the end, much as a lone warrior. He ended with a score of 83 from 59 and remained not out. Some critics did point out that he played a bit slow, but given the situation of the match and the slowness of the wicket, the innings was of top quality, with no real help from the other end.
Chasing a par score, KKR got off to a blazing start. The wicket at Bengaluru kept on getting better and better to bat on as the 2nd innings progressed, which came effective for the Kolkata’s batters. Sunil Narine who was sent to open the innings was on top gear, scoring a quickfire 47 off just 22 balls. He was well accompanied by Phil Salt, who also scored at a strike rate of 150.
It was more off a one-way traffic for the KKR, as all the batters displayed some quality shot making. Venkatesh Iyer batting at 3, scored a half-century and skipper Shreyas also chipped in with a quick 39 to take his side over the line.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR)-186 for 3 (Venkatesh 50, Narine 47) beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) -182 for 6 (Kohli 83*, Russell 2-29, Rana 2-39) by seven wickets.
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