IPL 2018: Match 3, KKR vs RCB - Who Said What

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have shut all the trolls which were pointing out that they had the thinnest squad in the tournament. The outfit in the purple and gold strode out with their new skipper Dinesh Karthik and proved to everyone that they were not here to make up the numbers. The team hunted in packs against the immensely strong Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) trumped them by 4 wickets. However, more questions were raised on RCB’s bowling once again which was tipped to be at their best so far.

After putting in to bat first, the visitors lost Quinton de Kock in the very second over but his partner Brendon McCullum was in the mood of marauding the bowlers. He scored runs at a fast pace even as his captain Virat Kohli failed to get going against Sunil Narine. But RCB gained momentum when AB de Villiers came out and started playing his crafty innovative shots against some of the best bowlers of the opposition. He smashed 44 off just 23 balls but threw his wicket away to the part-timer Nitish Rana.

Virat Kohli too yorked himself the very next delivery to give all the advantage to the hosts as they posted 176 runs in their 20 overs courtesy Mandeep Singh who hit few sixes at the death.

In response, Sunil Narine got his team off to an absolutely blazing start and whacked 50 off just 19 balls attacking all the bowlers that came his way. His innings staved off the disappointment of Chris Lynn’s failure even as Robin Uthappa also was sent back early. But the duo of Dinesh Karthik and Nitish Rana calmed the nerves and made sure there was no collapse in the pursuit of their chase.

In the end, though wickets kept on falling KKR gunned down the target with utter ease thanks to their new captain who stayed in the middle to witness the winning runs hit by Vinay Kumar.

Man of the Match, Sunil Narine said:

It’s good to get the ball rolling in the first game. The support staff and everyone giving me a chance to open the batting. Whatever role the teams wants to play, I’m happy to do it. It’s a good cricket wicket, whatever you do on the field, it’s gonna benefit you.

Winning captain, Dinesh Karthik said:

Feels very good. Nice to get to a good start. I felt it was coming too well against the pacers. When AB and Virat were playing it was tough. We just prayed to God that he [Narine] gets going. We all play for the crowd and we love to play for this team and this fantastic crowd.

Losing captain, Virat Kohli said:

I think we were 15 short with the bat. I played too many dot balls and couldn’t get any momentum going. Me and AB getting out in 2 balls to a part-timer was a game-changing event. Sunil took the game away from us with the way he batted. If you are giving 13 an over in the first overs on that sort of a wicket, it’s very difficult to comeback.

It’s difficult for the spinners to bowl on this pitch, the fast bowlers get some purchase and you can score runs as well. It has become a really good cricket wicket over the last couple of years. We made a pretty good game out of it, to drag it till the 19th over and take those wickets was a big positive.

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