Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) started their Indian Premier League (IPL) campaign with an impressive four-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore at Eden Gardens on Sunday night.
The two-time IPL champions began their pursuit of 177 on a blazing note. They lost Chris Lynn cheaply but Sunil Narine made amends for it with a stunning assault.
The Windies star showed no mercy and scored his fifty off just 17 balls. But before he could inflict further damage on Virat Kohli and his men, speedster Umesh Yadav castled him. At the end of the powerplay, the scoreboard read 68 for two.
A little later, they suffered another setback when Robin Uthappa departed for 13, leaving his team reeling at 83 for 3.
Nitish Rana and Dinesh Karthik then took the score past the 100-run mark in the 11th over. The duo found it tough to hit the big shots but kept the chase on track by rotating the strike. But just when the partnership crossed the 50-run mark, Washington Sundar dismissed Rana for 34. At that time, the hosts needed 39 off 33.
Andre Russell then hit two fours and a six in the 17th over – to bring the equation down to 15 from the last three overs. The Knight Riders eventually reached the target with seven balls remaining.
Earlier in the game, Royal Challengers Bangalore rode on AB de Villiers and Mandeep Singh’s quickfire knocks to post 176 for 7 in the allotted 20 overs.
Sent in to bat first, the tourists were off to a poor start as Quinton de Kock departed for just four.
However, Brendon McCullum and Virat Kohli steadied the ship with a 48-run stand. The partnership came to an end when Sunil Narine castled McCullum for 43.
In addition, McCullum’s dismissal brought AB de Villiers on the crease. And as expected, fireworks followed. Within no time, the Proteas star raced away to 43 with the help of five sixes.
However, just when it looked de Villiers and Kohli would break loose, Nitish Rana dismissed both of them on successive deliveries. Mandeep Singh’s 17-ball 37-run knock then helped Bangalore post a 170-plus total.
Here is how Twitter reacted to the match following Kolkata Knight Riders brush aside RCB:
Umesh Yadav is outpacing as well as outwitting Russell. Brilliant Cricket. #IPL
— cricBC (@cricBC) April 8, 2018
https://twitter.com/sagarcasm/status/983041820371423232
Third umpire were stunned that Kohli actually took the correct review and were taking time to make sure. #ipl
— cricBC (@cricBC) April 8, 2018
After that crucial drop, Kohli might temporarily nickname him Washington BC. #ipl
— cricBC (@cricBC) April 8, 2018
Sunil Narine is the true Mad Max of T20 cricket, others are impostors or just in name…
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) April 8, 2018
Sunil Charles Lara dismantling RCB.
— Nikhil ? (@CricCrazyNIKS) April 8, 2018
Year 2050:
RCB's bowling attack still sucks
— Wolfgang (@UniqueIdiot_) April 8, 2018
https://twitter.com/James_Beyond/status/983026775868440577
Gautam Gambhir should be given Nobel prize for discovering an opener in Sunil Narine.#RCBvKKR
— sunil the cricketer (@1sInto2s) April 8, 2018
Vinay Kumar is so average that if you make a list of most average bowlers ever, he will be average amongst them too.
— The Lying Lama 2.0 (@KyaUkhaadLega) April 8, 2018
KKR have taken too many gambles in just one game. Vinay Kumar opening and closing the innings is too 2008. RCB will have enough thanks to a Brain-Fade.
— Nikhil ? (@CricCrazyNIKS) April 8, 2018
Twist in the tale! @ABdeVilliers17 and @imVkohli dismissed off successive deliveries, @RCBTweets suffer double whammy & @KKRiders are back
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) April 8, 2018
nitish rana sabse saana
— sunil the cricketer (@1sInto2s) April 8, 2018
And now he gets Virat Kohli. Dinesh Karthik for PM https://t.co/CNGyXGcYRF
— Nikhil ? (@CricCrazyNIKS) April 8, 2018
https://twitter.com/sagarcasm/status/983006323825676288
Nitish Rana should retire from all forms of cricket on this high..#RCBvKKR #PowerYourGame
— The Lying Lama 2.0 (@KyaUkhaadLega) April 8, 2018
Some bowlers don't dismiss Kohli and de Villiers in their lifetime and Nitish Rana has done it in a single over on back to back deliveries. #KKRvRCB #IPL2018
— Shubh Aggarwal (@shubh_chintak) April 8, 2018
AB jaisa koi nahin… #KKRvRCB
— Jatin Sapru (@jatinsapru) April 8, 2018
Dhoni got out yesterday on 5 runs.
Yuvi scored 12 runs off 22 balls.Virat Kohli playing on 14 runs on 23 balls.
ye sab milke hamko pagal bana rahe………..#KKRvRCB
— sunil the cricketer (@1sInto2s) April 8, 2018
The amount of time Kohli is taking to settle, KL Rahul would've scored another 50. Choose your heroes wisely
— EngiNerd. (@mainbhiengineer) April 8, 2018
De Villiers picked Starc's reverse swing first ball in SA. He picked Cummins swinging it both ways too. Here he is playing Kuldeep, one of the toughest bowlers going around, like a club level bowler.
— Bharath Ramaraj (@Fancricket12) April 8, 2018
This is a scary top 4 for #RCB with McCullum, de Kock, Virat and AB. Fasten your seat belts, this will be fun
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 8, 2018
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