Image Credit: Twitter/@KKRiders
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore: Royal Challengers Bangalore suffered their first defeat in the IPL. RCB suffered a crushing defeat by 81 runs at the hands of Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens. Batting first in this match, Kolkata Knight Riders made a huge score of 204 runs for the loss of seven wickets in 20 overs. Later, Royal Challengers Bangalore were ‘all out’ for 123 runs in 17.4 overs.
Overwhelmed Kolkata spinners
Bengaluru’s innings started on a positive note with a huge target of 205 runs. With the target being huge, openers Virat Kohli (21: 18 balls, three fours) and Faf Duflessis (23: 12 balls, two fours, two sixes) tried to hit big shots from the first ball. Bangalore scored 42 runs without losing a wicket in the first four overs.
Coming to bowl in the fifth over, Sunil Narine clean bowled the in-form Virat Kohli in his first over. After that, RCB kept losing wickets at regular intervals. No one in the middle order could score in double figures. The Kolkata spinners rotated the ball very well. They also got a good turn on this wicket. This did not allow Bangalore batters to get into the crease at all. Varun Chakraborty took four wickets. New boy Suyash Sharma got three wickets. Sunil Narine took two wickets and Shardul Thakur took one wicket.
Shardul Thakur Show
In this match, Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and chose to bowl. With this, Kolkata Knight Riders came to bat first. But Kolkata did not get off to a good start. Opener Venkatesh Iyer (3: 7 balls), one-down batsman Mandeep Singh (0: 1 ball), and skipper Nitish Rana (1: 5 balls) failed miserably. With this, Kolkata lost three wickets for 47 runs.
But the other opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz (57: 44 balls, six fours, three sixes) and Rinku Singh kept the innings going. They added 42 runs for the fourth wicket and shortened the innings. Rahmanullah Gurbaz also completed his half-century. But at this stage, Karan Sharma dealt a heavy blow to Kolkata. Rahmanullah Gurbaz, who came to the crease in consecutive balls, dismissed the dangerous batsman Andre Russell (0: 1 ball) in consecutive balls. As a result, Kolkata Knight Riders lost five wickets for 89 runs and fell into trouble.
And when Kolkata thought they were done, Shardul Thakur attacked the Bengaluru bowlers like an expected surge. Edapeda hit boundaries and sixes and ran up the scoreboard. Rinku Singh gave him good support. As the innings progressed, Rinku also picked up the pace. The duo added 103 runs for the sixth wicket in just 7.3 overs. But in the 19th over of the innings, Rinku Singh and Shardul Thakur got out in the 20th over. But Bangalore has already hit a huge score. At the end of 20 overs, Royal Challengers Bangalore made a huge score of 204 runs for the loss of seven wickets. Among the Bengaluru bowlers, Karan Sharma and David Willey took two wickets. Harshal Patel, Bracewell, and Mohammed Siraj got a wicket each.
