Royal Challengers Bangalore’s lack of batting depth stood uncovered but once more because it succumbed to a 21-run loss towards Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday. For KKR, it was a much-needed win that broke a sequence of 4 successive defeats.
Chasing 201, Virat Kohli performed a lone hand, slashing and pulling his approach to his fifth half-century of the season (54, 37b, 6×4). Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell have been out cheaply, and the likes of Mahipal Lomror, Shahbaz Ahmed and Suyash Prabhudessai, on whom the think-tank had positioned a lot religion, failed to return good.
Lomror did present some spark (34, 18b, 1×4, 3×6), even hitting Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy for a mixed three sixes. The 55-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Kohli did increase the hopes of the house trustworthy.
But their dismissals in a span of 4 balls proved it was one other false daybreak. Lomror was caught at deep mid-wicket off Varun (4-0-27-3) whereas Kohli holed out in the identical space, with Venkatesh Iyer finishing a high quality low catch off Andre Russell.
Earlier, requested to bat first, KKR managed 66 runs within the PowerPlay, largely resulting from two large overs. David Willey went for 17 within the fourth earlier than Jason Roy (56, 29b, 4×4, 5×6) hammered left-arm spinner Shahbaz for 4 sixes within the sixth, all within the arc between long-on and sq. leg. The Englishman would full his half-century from simply 22 balls.
But from a wholesome place, KKR struggled, scoring a solitary boundary within the subsequent 5 overs and shedding each its openers to V. Vyshak. Jagadeesan holed out at deep mid-wicket whereas Roy was bowled round his legs.
However, in Venkatesh (31, 26b, 3×4) and skipper Nitish Rana (48, 21b, 3×4, 4×6), KKR discovered the boys for the rebuild, with the duo combining for 80 runs (44b). RCB didn’t assist itself by dropping Rana twice – on 5 by Siraj at long-off and on 19 by Harshal Patel at fine-leg – and the southpaw made the host pay.
The 29-year-old clubbed Harshal for back-to-back sixes behind sq. on the leg-side to deliver up KKR’s 150 after which smashed Vyshak for 2 fours and a six. Wanindu Hasaranga (4-0-24-2) stopped the bleeding quickly, sending again each Rana and Venkatesh within the 18th over.
But Rinku Singh and David Wiese helped KKR to 200, with 50 runs being scored from overs 17 to twenty, a cushion that ultimately proved greater than satisfactory.
Source: sportstar.thehindu.com