With a 21 victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Wednesday, Kolkata Knight Riders ended a four-match losing streak thanks to Jason Roy’s sterling fifty.
After RCB captain Virat Kohli chose to bowl at their home den. Kolkata Knight Riders batters fired in unison for a spirited 200/5.
With the English opener leading the way with a 29-ball 56. But the spin duo of Varun Chakravarthy (3/24) and rookie Suyash Sharma (2/30) caused chaos in the top order. Andre Russell (2/29) broke through Kohli’s resistance to keep RCB at 179 for 8.
After Faf Du Plessis (17) and Glenn Maxwell (5) fell cheaply. Kohli led the team with a 34-ball 54 and kept their hopes alive in the 201-run chase.
However, when Venkatesh Iyer made a crucial catch at the deep midwicket boundary to dismiss Kohli off Russell, all hell broke loose.
As Kohli retreated in disbelief, he dived to his left and rolled over, but he firmly held the ball.
The misfortune again demonstrated RCB’s over-dependence on their Large Three – – Kohli, Du Plessis, and Maxwell.
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Fa du Plessis, RCB’s regular captain, sat out to be subbed in as an Impact Player. When he hit Umesh Yadav on both sides of the wicket, he looked at his most ominous.
Kohli also was searching in a full stream as the RCB opening team devoured the KKR pacers, to begin with.
Rana turned to their most recent spin unit, Suyash Sharma. After their trump card spinner Sunil Narine failed to take a wicket in four matches.
The leggie was successful because he used the wrong move to grab du Plessis’ prized scalp and then trapped Shahbaz Ahmed in his next round (2).
The RCB’s top order was in disarray after Maxwell got out to Chakravarthy for the second time in as many games this season.
But RCB didn’t back down. Mahipal Lomror showed his intent by supporting Kohli perfectly as the two players went about their business.
Roy finally got KKR involved, setting the pace at the front with five sixes and four boundaries against Narayan Jagadeesan (27; 29b) gave KKR their best at any point start – – 83 runs from 56 balls.
KKR’s batting came on one or the other side of Sri Lankan leg spin sensation Hasaranga’s two fantastic bowling spells as he got back with 4-0-24-2 that caused a sufficient shudder.
In the first place, his parsimonious spell after the powerplay gave the catalyst for Vyshak’s twofold blow when he excused Jagadeesan and Roy.
However, Rana then guaranteed that they don’t lose the energy as he genuinely took advantage of his two respites – – on five and 19 – – to rush to his 21-ball 48 (3×4, 4×6).
KKR’s freshly discovered legend Rinku Singh (18 not out. After that, 10b) took charge and smashed two fours and one six to get them to the 200-point mark. David Wiese made an unbeaten 12 by hitting two sixes.
Roy blazed his way to a 22-ball fifty, his second in a row, to give KKR their best-ever start this season and show them how to use the powerplay.
The Englishman unleashed his fury when left-arm spinner Ahmed was introduced in the final powerplay over. Demonstrating his intent against RCB’s new ball bowlers Mohammed Siraj and David Willey.
However, Hasaranga deserves credit for his tidy following the powerplay. In which he allowed just two runs to put pressure on the duo.
As soon as boundaries disappeared, Vyshak and Harshal Patel also tightened the noose. Which was even more obvious in the duo.
Jagadeesan, who was struggling to get big hits, was stopped by a bouncer from Vyshak.
Roy got a perfect leg stump yorker from the uncapped Indian to clean up the Englishman around his legs.