In Match 36 of TATA IPL 2023, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 21 runs at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. KKR, after four consecutive losses, needed a win and they got it thanks to Jason Roy’s quickfire 56(29) and captain Nitish Rana’s attacking 48 off 21, which powered KKR to 200/5.
In response, RCB got off to a good start, but KKR’s Varun Chakaravarthy (3/27) and Suyash Sharma (2/30) spun a web around RCB batters and restricted them to 179/8. Chakaravarthy’s fantastic spell of 4-0-27-3 proved crucial in KKR’s victory.
RCB captain Virat Kohli won the toss and chose to bowl first. KKR got off to a flier, thanks to Roy’s attacking intent. He charged down the track and hit a four off the third ball of the innings and followed it up with another boundary. Roy and N Jagadeesan’s straight and cover drives took KKR to 66 at the end of the Powerplay.
Jason Roy hit a flurry of boundaries and scored his fourth IPL fifty off just 22 balls. However, RCB managed to make a comeback by taking wickets and restricting the run flow in the middle overs.
Venkatesh Iyer and Nitish Rana then accelerated the scoring for KKR, hitting fours and sixes and taking the score to 150 in the 16th over. But Wanindu Hasaranga came back to bowl an excellent spell and took two crucial wickets to stem the flow of runs.
Rinku Singh and David Wiese then provided a late surge, with Wiese hitting a couple of sixes off Harshal Patel to take KKR’s total to 200/5.
RCB had a great start in their chase of 201, with openers Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis attacking right from the beginning. Kohli hit a four off the first ball from Vaibhav Arora, and du Plessis also hit a boundary. They then targeted Umesh Yadav and scored 19 runs in his over, with Kohli hitting a four and du Plessis hitting two sixes.
However, in the third over, Nitish Rana brought Suyash Sharma into the attack, and the young spinner got the crucial wicket of du Plessis for just 17 runs off 7 balls. Kohli continued to score well, hitting a couple of fours off Suyash, but the spinner bounced back by dismissing Shahbaz Ahmed.
Varun Chakaravarthy then struck a blow by getting Glenn Maxwell caught at mid-off, and RCB lost three wickets in the Powerplay for the first time this season. After a few quiet overs, Mahipal Lomror hit a couple of sixes off Sunil Narine, taking the score to 96/3 at the halfway mark.
Kohli reached his fifty off 33 balls, but RCB lost him soon after as he was caught by Venkatesh Iyer off Andre Russell. Lomror hit another six off Chakaravarthy, but the spinner got his revenge by having him caught at deep square leg.
Dinesh Karthik and Suyash Prabhudessai added some quick runs, but Prabhudessai got run out due to a mix-up. With 56 needed off 24 balls, Russell and Chakaravarthy bowled tight overs, and the latter got the wicket of Karthik in his final over, finishing with impressive figures of 3/27.
RCB lost wickets at regular intervals and despite Dinesh Karthik’s brisk 22 off 18 balls, they fell short of the target, ending at 179/8. KKR’s win moves them up to the 7th spot in the points table, while RCB remains at the 5th spot.
Also Read: IPL 2023: 3 Reasons Why KKR Might Not Qualify For The Playoffs
