IPL 2018: Match 29, RCB vs KKR, Review - Knight Riders prove too good for the Challengers

Virat Kohli's valiant knock of 68* runs went in vain once again.

Published - 30 Apr 2018, 00:12 IST | Updated - 30 Apr 2018, 00:12 IST

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Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 7 wickets at the Chinnaswamy Stadium on Sunday. The hosts suffered their fifth loss of the season and are in a similar situation now which they were last year. Dinesh Karthik and his men were clinical on the day as they executed their plans perfectly with the ball to restrict RCB to an under-par total and then gunned down the target courtesy a patient knock from Chris Lynn. However, the home side had their lacklustre fielding to blame who dropped catches and fumbled in the field as well.

It all started with the opening duo of KKR Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn riding their luck as they stitched the best opening stand of this season. While the former mishit almost every shot in the first couple of overs which fell into the no man’s land, Lynn was dropped on 7 by Murugan Ashwin. Though the rain interruption of 33 minutes didn’t help their cause with Narine falling to Ashwin in the very next over after resumption. The tossed-up delivery hit low on his bat as Colin de Grandhomme took a smart catch at long-on.

The second-wicket stand though brought the chase back on track with Robin Uthappa being more animated. He smashed some delightful strokes right over the bowler’s head but a similar shot proved to be his undoing again off Ashwin who was tossing it up bravely. Meanwhile, Lynn had got his eyes in for the umpteenth time on the day and he was adamant on playing the sweep shot to the leggies on offer.

The things went tricky in the end with Nitish Rana getting retired hurt and Andre Russell being dismissed off the first ball. But the skipper Karthik and the ever so lucky Lynn made sure that there were no hiccups by gunning down the target in the final over. Lynn finally remained unbeaten and finished the game for his team along with Shubman Gill who came in to complete the formalities after the wicket of his skipper.

Kohli’s blitzkrieg comes to the fore

Earlier, after inserting to bat first, Quinton De Kock and Brendon McCullum gave their side a decent start by playing cautiously early on given that they didn’t have the luxury of AB de Villiers in the middle order. He had to sit out of the playing XI at the eleventh hour as he was not feeling well. The opening duo weathered the spin-bowling attack upfront and got their eyes in before launching the attack on the pacers. The former Kiwi player was the first one to take the lead as he stepped out of the crease and slammed a boundary off Mitchell Johnson.

For the first time this season, RCB had got off to a good start as they could’ve hoped to post a more than a decent total on the board for their bowlers to defend. But all those thoughts were thrashed soon as Kuldeep Yadav and Andre Russell scalped three together quickly. While De Kock was undone by the former with a loopy flighted delivery, his partner and Manan Vohra were foxed by Russell, the birthday boy. The run-scoring came to a screeching halt as the skipper Virat Kohli and Mandeep Singh aimed to resurrect the innings.

They stitched a partnership and the second strategic time-out proved to be the phase after which RCB decided to break the shackles. Sunil Narine was in the firing line this time as Kohli placed the first ball perfectly deep cover and long-off by picking the ball which turns away. Runs started to flow then with even Mandeep smacking a couple into the stands. The visitors pulled it back though with some clever bowling in the last three overs as Kohli tried his best and helped his side post the score of 175 by remaining unbeaten on 175.

In the end, the total was not enough for them to win the game as KKR proved to be too good for them again. There are a lot of questions to answer for them now with only their skipper performing to the potential.