Glenn Maxwell and AB de Villiers struck magnificent 70s to help RCB rack up 204 batting first on a dry Chepauk track. KKR came out all guns blazing, but it was too steep a mountain to climb and lost steam towards the end to lose by 38 runs.
Virat Kohli won his second toss of this IPL, and he had absolutely no hesitation in batting first. While KKR were unchanged, RCB had made one change as they reinforced their batting with the inclusion of Rajat Patidar, who came in place of Dan Christian. Yes, RCB played with only three overseas players. However, they didn’t get off to the best of starts.
The ball was holding up on the surface right from the start, and the three-time finalists lost two wickets in the second over. Once again, KKR bombarded the powerplay with spin. Harbhajan Singh started off proceedings, and Varun Chakravarthy came on in the second over and picked up two wickets. He first had Kohli skying one to cover where Rahul Tripathi took a superb catch running back while he knocked over Patidar, who was specifically brought in to counter spin.
At 9/2 in two overs, RCB were in trouble. Devdutt Padikkal hadn’t looked comfortable either. However, the arrival of Glenn Maxwell brought some energy to the crease, and he gave the innings some much-needed momentum. As Padikkal continued to struggle at the other end, Maxwell came in and started hitting boundaries for fun.
The Victorian raced away to 24 off 13 balls at the six-over mark while Padikkal recovered from 3 (10) to 13 (16). RCB managed to score 33 runs in the second half of the powerplay, giving them some impetus going into the middle overs.
Even though the field spread out and the track getting a touch slower as the ball got older, Maxwell didn’t hold back. He went after almost every bowler that was brought into the attack. He hogged most of the strike as well, and he blazed his way to a 28-ball half-century and unfurled a wide range of shots. He was reverse-sweeping and slog-sweeping the spinners for fun.
Maxwell was 60 (34) when Padikkal holed out for 25, trying to pull Prasidh Krishna. With the arrival of AB de Villiers, Maxwell continued on his merry way allowing the South African to settle in. However, de Villiers didn’t need much time anyway as he attacked from the get-go as well. He raced away to 33 off 20 balls as well.
Pat Cummins got rid of Maxwell in the 17th over, and de Villiers was batting on 33 at that stage. RCB’s score read 148/3. They would’ve been targeting 185 or thereabouts. But de Villiers went berserk. With a little help from Kyle Jamieson, who struck a couple of meaty blows, de Villiers took RCB to a mammoth 204 in their 20 overs – 56 runs in the last three overs. De Villiers finished with a stunning 34-ball 76 in what was a freak inning.
In reply, Shubman Gill gave KKR a flying start. The 21-year-old smashed 21 off nine balls, which included two fours and as many sixes. However, he lived by the sword and died by it as well, and Dan Christian (on as a sub for Maxwell) plucked out a stunning catch at mid-on in the second over. However, the run-rate didn’t drop as Rahul Tripathi came out with an intent to smash everything out of the park. Nitish Rana was batting really well at the other end too.
The duo took KKR to 57 in the first six overs before both fell in the span of six deliveries. Tripathi top-edged one to mid-wicket while trying to slog Washington Sundar out of the attack. Meanwhile, the left-handed Rana fell in fashion as he slogs-wept one straight to deep mid-wicket off Yuzvendra Chahal, giving him his first wicket of the season.
Chahal struck again in his third over as he pinned Dinesh Karthik LBW to leave KKR reeling at 74/4. Eoin Morgan and Shakib Al Hasan tried to resurrect the innings and up the ante but just couldn’t find the fence regularly. They did hit Maxwell out of the attack, scoring 24 runs off his two overs. But Morgan succumbed to the rising required rate as Harshal Patel prized out the KKR skipper.
Russell took time to get going. He was four off six balls as he struggled to find his timing and power. However, Chahal’s overturned the tide for him. He smacked the premier RCB leggie for six and three fours before hitting Jamieson for a six in the next over to send some shivers in the RCB camp. He had done it before and was threatening to do it again.
However, a fantastic penultimate over from Mohammed Siraj, where he nailed the wide yorkers, sealed the game for RCB. Patel wiped up the innings for RCB, giving them a 38-run win.
This is KKR’s second successive defeat, and their net run rate has taken a hit too. With this win, RCB move to the top of the table and are the only unbeaten team in this competition so far.
Brief Scores:
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 204/4 (Maxwell 78, de Villiers 76*, Padikkal 25, Chakravarthy 2/39, Krishna 1/31)
Kolkata Knight Riders: 166/8 (Russell 31, Morgan 29, Jamieson 3/41, Harshal 2/17, Chahal 2/34) by 38 runs
