IPL 10: Match 46, Who Said What: Royal Challengers Bangalore v Kolkata Knight Riders

Royal Challengers Bangalore, dressed in their customary fluorescent green to support ‘Go Green’ campaign, hosted the third placed team in the points table, Kolkata Knight Riders. If we trace back where it all went wrong for the RCB this season, it has to be the second innings of their match at Eden Gardens this season where they were bundled out within 10 overs to register the lowest score ever in the history of the IPL.

Gautam Gambhir won the toss and chose to field first. The bowlers threatened yet another batting collapse as the Big three of RCB- Virat Kohli, Chris Gayle and AB de Villiers departed without troubling the scorers. But Travis Head kept a cool head on his shoulders as he helped propel the RCB score to 158. Mandeep Singh weathered the storm and scored a vital 52, while Head finished the innings with a 47-ball 75 striking 5 huge sixes and four boundaries. Umesh Yadav was the pick of the bowlers as he clinched up three wickets.

As it turned out, Travis Head did not play the innings of the match as his effort was completely eclipsed by Sunil Narine’s prowess with the bat. Narine scored the fastest half-century in the history of IPL in just 15 balls and broke the record of his partner batting at the other end. Chris Lynn tried to better his record but missed out as he scored his half century in 21 balls. The duo also registered the highest total in the history of IPL as they scored 105 of the first six overs.

Despite few hiccups, in the end, KKR defeated the home side by a massive margin of six wickets with 4.5 overs to spare. Sunil Narine was adjudged the man of the match for his all-round performance.

Sunil Narine

He was pleasantly surprised with the manner in which he batted today and stated that important inputs from Lynn from the other helped him break his record in this edition of the IPL. He also seemed satisfied with his efforts with the ball.

Yes I’m very surprised. Definitely wasn’t expecting something like this. Lynny just said, keep your eyes on the ball, maintain your focus and swing through the line. I try to keep it simple and back my ability. That wicket was key (AB de Villiers) and pulled them back a bit so I’m happy. It was a total team effort. Bowlers stuck to their plans. Umesh’s was a key performance too

Gautam Gambhir 

Gambhir affirmed that the Lynn-Narine partnership was the best he has ever witnessed in his entire IPL career. He also lauded the efforts of Lynn who made a comeback from injury. When asked about the masterstroke of Narine’s promotion up the order, Gambhir credited the management for the decision.

Haven’t seen such a partnership to be honest. It was an unbelievable effort. This is the best partnership I’ve seen in my entire career. You don’t see teams getting hundred in six overs. He (Lynn) must be the hardest hitter in international cricket. The way he played today after coming from injury shows how mentally strong he is. It was the team management’s call (to get Narine opening). It was some of the best hitting I’ve seen.

By the virtue of their positive run-rate, KKR retained their second position in the table, overtaking Rising Pune Supergiant who now are placed at the third spot.