IPL 2017 | KKR pacers pull off a sensational win against RCB

IPL 2017 | KKR pacers pull off a sensational win against RCB

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BCCI

After the batsmen failed in the first innings, the KKR bowlers took the onus on their shoulders and pulled off an extraordinary 82-run victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Eden Gardens. Batting first, KKR scored just 131 runs, but it proved to be sufficient as RCB could only muster 49.

Brief Scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 131/10 (Sunil Narine 34, Chris Woakes 18; Yuzvendra Chahal 3/16; Pawan Negi 2/15) beat  Royal Challengers Bangalore 49/10 (Kedar Jadhav 9, AB de Villiers 8, Chris Woakes 3/6, Colin de Grandhomme 3/4) by 82 runs.

With some rain at the Eden Gardens, the game was delayed but it was Virat Kohli who won the toss and the “Chasing King” decided to field first citing the “tacky” nature of the pitch as his reason. RCB made all their changes to the overseas contingent with Travis Head, Adam Milne, and Shane Watson making way for AB de Villiers, Tymal Mills, and Samuel Badree. KKR, too, made just one change with Colin de Grandhomme replacing Shakib Al Hasan for the game.

KKR lose the plot after a blistering start

After the rain delay, Kolkata got off to yet another flyer and it was the usual suspect Sunil Narine who started off where he had left off by smashing Samuel Badree for 18 runs in the very first over. Having scored sixty runs from just boundaries (42 from the last match), Narine finally took a single in the third over, but once he got the strike back, the West Indian again hit two back-to-back boundaries off Sreenath Aravind to take the score to 39 in just 3 overs. Gambhir, though, looked little susceptible and looking to defend with an open face, got out to Tymal Mills for 14. Post Gambhir’s dismissal, KKR batsmen were tied down by RCB’s assortment of bowlers. So much so that, Narine got out to Stuart Binny’s shortened-length delivery while Uthappa followed him in the next over. Only 14 runs were scored from the next three overs, and KKR found them at 87/4 at the midway point.

‘Untested’ middle-order succumb under RCB spinners’ trick

Just when KKR batsmen would have thought to put their leg on the accelerator Yuzvendra Chahal ran riot. He accounted for Yusuf Pathan, Manish Pandey, and Colin de Grandhomme in two overs, leaving the hosts reeling at 93/6.  Kolkata’s last hopes were on Suryakumar Yadav and Chris Woakes to pull them out of the woods, but Mills ensured that Woakes’ stay at the crease was brief. Mandeep Singh, standing at the deep midwicket, initially made a mess of the catch but eventually used his chest and arms to send the Englishman back to the dressing room for 18. Suryakumar Yadav didn’t last long as well with Pawan Negi dismissing him a ball after he had sent Nathan Coulter-Nile packing. RCB finally rounded up the KKR innings at 131 when Aravind disturbed Kuldeep Yadav’s furniture. 

Amateurish batting gifts KKR a memorable victory

In their pursuit to defend a modest 132 runs, Nathan Coulter-Nile and Umesh Yadav bowled brilliantly with the new ball to stifle RCB batsmen. Virat Kohli failed to get going as he gave a simple catch to Manish Pandey, standing at backward point. While that came as a stumbling block for the RCB unit, Mandeep Singh and AB de Villiers fell cheaply as well as Yadav and Coulter-Nile produced a bowling performance of years gone by. Bangalore were 24 for 4 then, and with Chris Gayle and Kedar Jadhav in the middle, RCB had still had hopes of salvaging the situation. But what happened after that was a complete disaster. On a day when China set a world record by losing all their wickets for 28 against Saudi Arabia, RCB looked intent of giving the Chinese a run for their money. Gayle and Jadhav just gifted their wickets to KKR and the lower order followed suit. Woakes (3/6) and de Grandhomme (3/4) were the main stars as RCB were bundled out for just 49 runs, in what was a forgettable day in their 10-year existence. 

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