Gautam Gambhir, coach of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), could be heard telling host broadcasters in a video produced before their match against Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) that “RCB was one team I wanted to beat always and probably dreamt about beating.
Gambhir made this comment several hours before kick-off; Chinnaswamy Stadium was packed during play as his team defeated them by seven wickets, becoming the first side in the Indian Premier League 2017 season to do so away from home.
Narine and Venky’s assault combined was enough to win their matchup.
Sunil Narine came crashing down hard when Kolkata was trying to chase 183 runs and scored 47 runs off 22 balls – helping Kolkata score 85 runs in six overs!
Phil Salt’s six off Mohammed Siraj gave KKR 18 runs in its inaugural over, seemingly startling the bowlers at home and making an impressionable start for a challenge that seemed unlikely to succeed. Skipper Faf employed only Pacers during the powerplay to take advantage of Narine’s weakness for short balls; however, the veteran continued his typical style of clearing his front leg and boundary rope without incident.
Alzarri Joseph was the subject of his 14-run attack, including two sixes hit over the long-on boundary. In the final over of the powerplay, Yash Dayal was dismissed for 21 runs, which was probably the best outcome overall. Left-arm spinner Mayank Dagar used a yorker-length ball against Dayal’s onslaught; unfortunately, it came too late!
RCB managed to rein in their losses by withdrawing Salt. At the same time, Venkatesh Iyer kept up the pressure with some devastating hitting, mainly through line positions, and knocking Joseph for twenty runs to end any hopes of a comeback.
Even though he left with victory already in Shreyas Iyer’s hands, he could still lead them to win with 19 balls remaining by scoring an unbeaten 39 off 24 deliveries and fifty runs from 30 balls; this incredible performance propelled KKR forward.
Kohli continued his phenomenal run with an outstanding unbeaten 83 not out of 59 deliveries – further proof that he still “has it.” Cameron Green hit 33 runs to form an essential 65-run partnership for the second wicket, while Dinesh Karthik hit 20 off eight deliveries and helped the home team achieve 182 for 6.
Since his Twenty20 career began, he had not typically used aggressive shots. But with India’s World Twenty20 place uncertain, this season has seen more initiative on his part. Kagiso Rabada and Arshdeep Singh were hit for two spectacular cover drives by him during Friday’s match against Punjab; he raced down the ground to strike them – the wrist work on display from him was evident!
His signature six came against Mitchell Starc; it landed deep over deep midwicket using a bottom-handed flick. Furthermore, he performed two kneeling slog sweeps against Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy when playing against them.
Kohli used his bottom hand again, sending the ball straight into the stands (intentionally or otherwise). Later that same time, his wrists came into play again when they hit Mitchell Starc into the stands over deep midwicket – this marked when the action kicked off.
Pricey Starc has impeccable hands.
Mitchell Starc immediately adjusted his length after two balls despite the surface providing virtually nothing to work with. It appeared destined for Faf du Plessis when Mitchell found Kohli’s outside edge and gave an indication there would be no shape to his game plan; thus, Mitchell gave away 47 runs in four overs for no wicket taken during this IPL event; 100 runs have already been scored through eight overs this season alone!
At least he managed to hold on for a catch at fine-leg after Harshit Rana tricked Faf du Plessis into scooping with a slower delivery after Faf du Plessis dinked him for six.
Shortly after that, however, they failed to make three catches, dropping their total to seven in two due to a fortunate break on either 11th or 21st May when Glenn Maxwell was dropped. Sunil Narine was the star of Maxwell’s missed catch. First, he was dismissed due to Ramandeep Singh’s bowling, and later on, he dropped a dolly at short third man with Harshit Rana being the bowler this time.
Maxwell was eventually dismissed due to one too many hoicks, while Narine was fortunate that Rinku Singh managed to catch Rinku’s third offering from Narine. Rinku Singh managed to hold onto it without damage being done to Narine or Narine by using their change of speed and length mixing against them; Andre Russell then used this change of speed and length mixing effectively, as well as his change in pace for two wickets for 29 runs that made up his most effective bowler for KKR while keeping their innings under tight control.
