Sport
KKR thrash RCB by 7 wickets in IPL
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) made a joke out of a target of 183 set for them by Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, chasing the target down with seven wickets and 19 balls to spare.
Virat Kohli batted through the innings and stayed unbeaten on 83 off 59 as RCB put up a target of 183 for KKR to chase. Openers Sunil Narine and Phil Salt then came in and upended whatever advantage RCB had. The pair smashed 85 runs in the powerplay alone, with Narine eventually falling for 47 off 22 balls. Salt also fell for 30 off 20 after which Venkatesh Iyer and Shreyas Iyer took over. Venkatesh returned to form with a 30-ball 50 and Shreyas hit the winning runs with a six, finishing unbeaten on 39 off 24 balls, Hindustan Times reported.
RCB captain Faf du Plessis fell early but the hosts managed to get off to a strong start largely thanks to Kohli. He, along with Cameron Green, ensured that RCB scored 61 runs in the powerplay. Kohli then cruised past a half-century for the second consecutive time this season. The partnership between the two ended on 65 off 42 balls when Green fell to Andre Russell on 31 off 21. His Australia teammate Glenn Maxwell then finally found his touch after two poor outings in RCB’s last two games, thanks in part to KKR fielders dropping two straightforward catches off him. Maxwell’s luck ran out in the 15th over after he had scored 28 off 19 balls.
Harshit Rana and Andre Russell then led the way as KKR managed to largely restrict RCB in the death overs. They hit 16 runs off the last over from Starc and Kohli stayed unbeaten on 83 off 59. Dinesh Karthik hit 20 runs in eight balls and was run out off the last ball and RCB’s innings ended on a score of 182/6. Kolkata Knight Riders earlier won the toss and chose to bowl first.