RCB vs KKR : Kolkata Knight Riders slam Royal Challengers Bangalore by 21 runs
RCB vs KKR : Last night’s RCB vs KKR match at M. Chinnaswamy Stadium was yet another high-scoring contest that gave fans IPL’s trademark entertainment. Royal Challengers Bangalore won the toss and chose to field first, but their decision did not go as planned after Jason Roy and N Jagadeesan made a fiery start. Roy smashed 4 fours and 5 sixes to reach 56 runs in just 29 balls. Vijaykumar Vyshak brought RCB back into the game by dismissing them in quick succession, but KKR’s middle order kept the scoreboard moving. Venkatesh Iyer scored 31 off 26, whereas skipper Nitish Rana hit a fantastic 48 in just 21 balls. Kolkata Knight Riders put themselves in a commanding position by reaching 200 runs in 20 overs.
Royal Challengers Bangalore gave a meagre response as no top-order batsman except skipper Virat Kohli scored well. Kohli hit another fabulous fifty, but Faf du Plessis, Shahbaz Ahmed and even the in-form Glen Maxwell fared poorly. Mahipal Lomror and Dinesh Kartik held their ground for a while under pressure, but Varun Chakravarthy gave KKR the edge by picking three key wickets in the middle order to put RCB out of the chase. In the end, Kolkata Knight Riders registered a comfortable victory with a margin of 21 runs.
Chakravarthy was felicitated with ‘Player of the Match’ award for his match-winning spell and praiseworthy economy. The next match will be played between Rajasthan Royals and Chennai Super Kings on April 27, 7:30 pm.