Simply six overs into the chase, the writing was on the wall. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) had established utter dominance, whereas Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) had nowhere to show.
Whereas RCB gently tiptoed to 182 for six, KKR sprinted to the end line of their IPL encounter right here on Friday. KKR’s all-out attacking intent was made clear by openers Phil Salt (30, 20b, 2×4, 2×6) and Sunil Narine (47, 22b, 2×4, 5×6), who smashed fearsome blows to rack up 85 runs within the first six overs.
With the required run price now all the way down to seven an over, Venkatesh Iyer (50, 30b, 3×4, 4×6) and Shreyas Iyer (39 n.o., 24b, 2×4, 2×6) confronted no stress. The center-order duo settled in, picked on the free deliveries, and helped KKR attain house with 3.1 overs to spare.
Save for a wicket for native lad V. Vyshak, the 34,000-odd spectators had little to cheer about within the KKR essay.
Earlier, Virat Kohli (83 n.o., 59b, 4×4, 4×6) carried his bat for RCB, even when he was not in full movement. Kohli and his companions struggled when the tempo was taken off by the KKR bowlers.
HIGHLIGHTS | ROYAL CHALLENGERS BENGALURU VS KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS
Cameron Inexperienced (33, 21b, 4×4, 2×6) and Glenn Maxwell (28, 19b, 3×4, 1×6) saved Kohli firm in uninspiring partnerships.
For the third successive outing, Dinesh Karthik got here to the rescue within the demise overs. Karthik walked in to bat within the 18th over, and supplied late momentum with an 8-ball 20.
A shoddy fielding show let RCB off the hook. The worrying development was set when Ramandeep Singh fluffed a run-out likelihood early within the essay handy Inexperienced a life. It bought worse for Ramandeep, when he put down a skier at deep mid-wicket when Glenn Maxwell was on 11.
KKR was additional embarrassed when Narine fluffed a sitter a short time later to offer Maxwell one other reprieve. Within the seventeenth over, the virus unfold to Varun Chakravarthy, who failed to carry on to a low catch provided by Anuj Rawat.
The KKR opening blitzkrieg, nevertheless, made up for these failings.