IPL 2019: Match 35 – RCB vs KKR – Who Said What

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) lost their fourth match on a row in this edition’s Indian Premier League (IPL). Dinesh Karthik and Co lost by 10 runs to the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the Eden Gardens. The Knights, meanwhile, stayed at the sixth position of the points table with a lot to do in the upcoming games. On the contrary, RCB kept themselves alive in the T20 tournament with two victories.

Virat gives KKR nightmares

The Knights have lost all their games, batting first and hence, it wasn’t a surprise that they elected to field first after winning the toss. And the hosts did well, restricting the RCB to 59 in 8.5 overs. Parthiv Patel was the first wicket to fall to Sunil Narine. The move to promote Akshdeep Nath faltered as he could only manage 13 before perishing to Andre Russell. At that time, KKR seemed to be on top.

However, skipper Virat Kohli and Moeen Ali put on a stand of 90 runs to help the visitors clinch the ascendancy. Moeen got to his half-century in 24 balls and got out to Kuldeep Yadav after getting 66 from 28 balls. At the other end, Virat got to his fifty in 40 balls and then pressed the accelerator. The 30-year-old raced away to his fifth IPL century in 57 balls. The onslaught helped RCB to 213 for four in 20 overs.

KKR fall short of the target

KKR didn’t have the best of starts by any means as they lost Chris Lynn, Narine and Shubman Gill with only 33 on the board. Dale Steyn played his first match this season he pinned Lynn and Gill. Thereafter, Nitish Rana and Robin Uthappa tried to put their heads down and added 46 runs for the fourth wicket. Nevertheless, those runs came in 41 balls and that pushed up the required rate to over 15 per over.

Stoinis got rid of the out-of-form Uthappa. Then walked in Andre Russell with a monstrous task of keeping up with an asking rate of above 16. Both batsmen kept going for the big shots and got the target down. Russell muscled nine sixes in his knock of 65 runs from 25 deliveries. Then there was Rana, who came out with a 46-ball 85. Unfortunately, their efforts went in vain.

Dinesh Karthik, the KKR captain, said

I think the way Moeen batted, he took the game away from us. He played a few good shots and credit to him. I thought they were 20-25 runs too many and that’s what happens when a player like Virat plays. It was a brilliant knock from him. The ball was seaming a little, and the new ball had a bit in it and it wasn’t easy for stroke-making. If I had to look back, it was 20 runs too many. This is a hard wicket for the spinners and we were aware that we could take on their spinners and that brought the game close. I think RCB did the small things right today. If we play a couple of good games things will start to roll and I believe in my boys. If we do the right things we will be back on track.

Virat Kohli, the RCB captain and Player of the Match, said

Felt really good, after what happened last year. Was important to have a win under our belt. There’s no point in panicking in these types of situations, you got to leave it to the bowlers. Few good decisions by Stoinis and then Moeen in the end. They both showed composure and that’s what you expect from our teams mates. Our communication was to get 170-175, we didn’t think we could get 200-plus.

Moeen changed the game completely and that allowed to play my game. Moeen said I am going to go now and I asked him to go for it. He targeted the small boundaries and changed the game in those few overs. It was important to bat along when AB is not here. In the end death overs are going to be difficult with this kind of ground. Credit to Russell for setting up those kind of games. Steyn getting those crucial overs was important for us. I think picking wickets in the Powerplay is crucial as it sets the tone for the rest of the innings.

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