IPL 2019: Match 35, KKR vs RCB, Review – Butchery at the Eden with Virat Kohli, Moeen Ali going bonkers

Was Robin Uthappa the reason behind KKR's loss?

Published - 20 Apr 2019, 00:05 IST | Updated - 20 Apr 2019, 00:05 IST

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The Eden Gardens witnessed a masterclass from the legendary Virat Kohli in Match 35 of IPL 2019. Assisted by Moeen Ali, the team registered only their second win of this season. However, the bowling of the visitors was exposed yet again. But Dale Steyn, with some important wickets early on, kept the team slightly ahead in the race.

They were unable to stop Andre Russell and Nitish Rana towards the end of the game. But a sluggish knock from Robin Uthappa, where he scored 9 from 20 balls, didn’t help the cause of the home team. Had he played a little more aggressive, KKR could have comfortably got over the line. The team has now lost four matches in a row.

Carnage from Moeen, Masterclass from Virat

After they were put into bat first, the Royal Challengers Bangalore had a sedate start. They lost the wickets of Parthiv Patel and Akshdeep Nath early and also missed the services of AB de Villiers for this game. While the keeper scored 11 runs, the latter could get just 13 runs. After these early blows, Virat Kohli and Moeen Ali built up a nice, steady partnership.

Since Virat was looking to take the innings deep, Moeen started attacking right from the start. He quickly got off the blocks and got a few boundaries early on. The English cricketer was hitting one or two boundaries every over and was on 40 off 22 balls at the end of the 15th over. The real carnage came in the 16th over bowled by Kuldeep Yadav. 27 runs were scored off the first five balls before the chinaman dismissed him off the final delivery.

Until this point, Virat Kohli was going just normal. He was on 55 from 42 balls. Then, he decided to shift gears in the final overs. He faced 16 off the last 24 balls and scored another 45 runs to register his 5th IPL century. He got out on the final ball of the innings after the glorious knock. An 8-ball 17 from Marcus Stoinis at the other end helped RCB get to 213/4 in 20 overs. 93 runs were scored off the final five overs of the innings.

Andre Russell, Nitish Rana give the visitors a scare towards the end

Before this match, RCB only managed to pick up three wickets in all the powerplay overs they bowled. But the inclusion of Dale Steyn turned things around completely. On his first ball this season, he managed to find the edge of Chris Lynn which was dropped by Stoinis. But then, he dismissed the same batsman on the last ball of the same over. While Navdeep Saini bumped out Sunil Narine with a short ball, Steyn came back and dismissed Shubman Gill as well for 9 runs.

Robin Uthappa played a terrible knock coming in at number four. He scored 9 runs from 20 balls at an awful strike rate of 45 putting his team under severe pressure. However, Andre Russell has got his nerves made of steel. He didn’t under what pressure meant and was well-assisted by Nitish Rana. If you though the Virat-Moeen knocks were fierce, this was something at another level.

However, their efforts failed to get the team over the line. They smashed 15, 18 and 19 runs in the 17th, 18th and 19th overs. Yet, they had to chase down 24 runs in the final over. KKR fell short of the target by a mere 10-run margin. Rana was unbeaten on 85 from 46 balls while Andre Russell scored 65 off 25 balls.