In Match number 10 of TATA IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru convincingly by seven wickets. With this emphatic win, KKR also broke the streak of home teams winning the games in TATA IPL 2024. KKR remains unbeaten in Chinnaswamy Stadium since 2019.
Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bengaluru came into the match with a win from their previous encounters. RCB beat Punjab Kings, whereas KKR stood victorious against SRH in their opening game. KKR won the toss and chose to field first, given the pitch condition. However, RCB was more than happy to bat first.
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru 1st Innings.
RCB openers Faf and Kohli started the game with a flory of boundaries. Kohli and Du Plessis added seventeen runs on the scoreboard. However, on the last ball of the second over, Du Plessis gave up his wicket to Harshit Rana to recreate the previous six-hitting shot.
While Kohli stood his ground at one end, apart from Green and Maxwell, there was not much support from the middle order. Green scored 33 runs in 21 balls, whereas Maxwell made 28 runs in 19 balls. Kohli built healthy partnerships with Green and Maxwell of 65 and 42 runs, respectively. However, local lads Pattidar and Rawat made no significant contribution, as both players were dismissed for three runs each.
As the innings progressed, Kohli added another 50-run milestone to his record. To upscale the scoreboard, Virat got the support from Dinesh Karthik, as the veteran made an astounding 20 runs in 8 balls with three 6s. Virat Kohli made 83 runs in 59 balls, including four 4s and four 6s. RCB posted 182 runs on the board for the loss of six wickets.
Kolkata Creates Carnage in the 2nd Innings.
To everyone’s surprise, Sunil Narine opened the innings with Phil Salt for KKR in his 500th IPL game for the franchise. Narine and Salt scored at a staggering run rate of 17 runs per over in the first three overs. What once looked like a fighting total became a mere cakewalk. By the end of the powerplay, KKR reached the 80-run mark without losing any wickets. However, eventually, RCB got the first breakthrough as Mayank Dagar bowled Sunil Narine in the seventh over. Narine made 47 runs in 22 balls with two 4s and five 6s with just seven runs per over required to win the game.
Next, Phil Salt returned to the pavilion as he picked Green on the leg-side boundary, scoring 30 runs for the team. Things didn’t change for any teams as KKR kept the beating of RCB bowlers on song. To add Salt to injury, Venkatesh Iyyer scored 50 runs from thirty balls with three 4s and four 6s.
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With nothing much left to defend, RCB got the wicket of Venkatesh in the over of Yash Dayal. However, KKR intelligently won the game and chased the 183 runs total in 17 overs. Sunil Narine won the player of the match for his batting performance, and he also picked the crucial wicket of Glen Maxwell after he was dropped twice before in the game. Next in IPL, RCB will play Lucknow Super Giants on 2nd April 2024. Meanwhile, KKR will play Delhi Capitals on 3rd April in Visakhapatnam.
