After 9 wins on the trot for home teams in 2024 IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders stem the tide with 7-wicket win over RCB in Bengaluru
BENGALURU: The last time
Royal Challengers Bengaluru
safeguarded their citadel against Kolkata Knight Riders, they still had Bangalore in their name.
Virat Kohli
and Gautam Gambhir were home and away skippers. The likes of Chris Gayle,
AB de Villiers
and Robin Uthappa were in their prime T20 form.
Many superstars from that rain-affected match in 2015 have since turned commentators and were probably analysing the game from studios as the Knight Riders thumped the home team in a brutal display of attacking cricket to stretch their dominance at the M Chinnaswamy stadium. Chasing RCB's 182/6, KKR cruised to a seven-wicket win with 19 balls to spare.
RCB, paid a heavy price for a less-than-ordinary bowling performance in the Powerplay, which ensured the opening pair of
Phil Salt
(30) and
Sunil Narine
(47; 22b; 2x4; 5x6) blazed to 85/0 in six overs, their second highest score during the duration.
Salt started the assault, showing disdain towards Mohammed Siraj. In the first over he whacked Siraj over midwicket for six and followed it up with a delectable dispatch to the covers. The Englishman wasn't done yet as he upped his muscular display with a six over long-on. The 18-run opening over was only the trailer.
Venkatesh Iyer
(50, 30b, 3x4; 4x6) tore into the RCB attack and ensured near pin-drop silence in the stadium. Such was KKR top order's dominance that they did not need their showstopper Andre Russell to pad up.
Fittingly, skipper Shreyas Iyer (39; 24b; 2x4; 2x6) signalled the victory with a maximum.
THE KOHLI SHOW
Success, they say, is peace of mind, a result of self-satisfaction. RCB opener Kohli seems to be in that zone. There aren't many milestones left for Kohli to chase. Nothing to prove to anybody either. Yet, with critics around him and a T20 World Cup berth at stake, Kohli cut out the noise and deleted the drama and focused on his batting. The man, who has never been shy of playing to the gallery, barely raised his bat as spectators celebrated his half-century and later a stroke-filled unbeaten 59-ball 82 (4x4; 4x6).
Asked to bat, Kohli welcomed former teammate Mitchell Starc with a boundary through short third man and thus began a 95-minute show of deftness and conviction. Against slower deliveries from Starc, Kohli showcased his wristwork and in the third over whipped the Australia pacer over deep square leg for his first maximum. Against spin ace Narine, it was more of slog sweep kind of shots which he employed to get past the fence.
Kohli was well on his way to a well-deserved century but his innings was slowed down by some quick wickets at the other end.
Following the dismissal of skipper Faf du Plessis, Cameron Green (33; 21b) joined forces with Kohli. Green, who survived a botched run out early in his innings, had found his rhythm, when showman Russell (2/29) disturbed his furniture to halt the 65-run second-wicket association.
Glenn Maxwell (28) got some runs courtesy the largesse of KKR fielders. KKR managed to cut out the runs but failed to hold on to catches and grassed three of them, including two from Maxwell.
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