Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Royal Challengers Bengaluru by a margin of just 1 run in the Indian Premier League 2024 match in Kolkata on April 21, 2024.
| Photo Credit: K.R. Deepak

In a high-scoring encounter dotted with heart-stopping moments, Kolkata Knight Riders rode on skipper Shreyas Iyer’s half-century and Andre Russell’s excellent all-round showing to manage an exciting one-run win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the Indian Premier League at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on April 21.

Inserted on a batter-friendly track, KKR erected 222 before thwarting RCB’s spirited chase to post its fifth win. Even in a different uniform, RCB suffered its sixth straight defeat.

With RCB needing 21 in the last over, Karn Sharma unbelievably punished Mitchell Starc in his seven-ball 20 before being dismissed by the Aussie. With three needed off the last ball, wicketkeeper Phil Salt’s spectacular diving run out stopped RCB just at the brink.

During RCB’s reply, Harshit Rana surprised Kohli with a high full toss and took a catch. The third umpire found it to be a legal delivery and gave Kohli out to the dismay of the batter.

After Faf du Plessis’ departure, Will Jacks (55) and Rajat Patidar (52) counter-attacked. Jacks, who dominated the leg-side, mercilessly clobbered bowlers. Jacks, who scored 22 off a Starc over, formed a 102-run association with Patidar, who effortlessly clubbed the spinners, in 48 balls.

KKR’s lucky mascot Russell provided crucial breakthroughs by accounting for both in the 12th over.

Narine scalped Green and Mahipal Lomror in the next over before KKR bowlers, led by the superb Harshit and Russell, excelled in the death.

Breezy start

Earlier, Salt gave a fine exhibition of clean stroke-play to set up a solid platform for KKR. Salt (48), who hammered 28 off Lockie Ferguson’s first over, put up a breezy 56-run partnership with Sunil Narine before falling to Mohammad Siraj.

Yash Dayal dismissed Narine and Angkrish Raghuvanshi in the sixth over and Cameron Green removed Venkatesh Iyer in the ninth.

Shreyas and Rinku Singh batted sensibly to add 40.

Shreyas executed his shots smartly on either side as he drove, pulled, reverse-hit and uppercut in his first fifty of the season.

Russell and Ramandeep Singh plundered 36 runs in the last two to take the host past 200 for the fourth time.

Scoreboard

Kolkata Knight Riders innings: Phil Salt c Patidar b Siraj 48 Sunil Narine c Kohli b Dayal 10 Angkrish Raghuvanshi c Green b Dayal 3 Venkatesh Iyer c Lomror b Green 16 Shreyas Iyer (c) c du Plessis b Green 50 Rinku Singh c Dayal b Ferguson 24 Andre Russell not out 27 Ramandeep Singh not out 24 Extras: (B-4, LB-7, NB-2, W-7) 20

Total: (For 6 wickets in 20 overs) 222

Fall of wickets: 1-56, 2-66, 3-75, 4-97, 5-137, 6-179.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru bowling: Mohammed Siraj 4-0-40-1, Yash Dayal 4-0-56-2, Lockie Ferguson 4-0-47-1, Karn Sharma 4-0-33-0, Cameron Green 4-0-35-2.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru innings: Virat Kohli c & b Harshit 18 Faf du Plessis (c) c Venkatesh b Chakravarthy 7 Will Jacks c Raghuvanshi b Russell 55 Rajat Patidar c Harshit b Russell 52 Cameron Green c Ramandeep b Narine 6 Suyash Prabhudessai c Raghuvanshi b Harshit 24 Mahipal Lomror c & b Narine 4 Dinesh Karthik c Salt b Russell 25 Karn Sharma c & b Starc 20 Mohammed Siraj not out 0 Lockie Ferguson run out 1 Extras: (B-1, LB-4, W-4) 9

Total: (All out in 20 overs) 221

Fall of wickets: 1-27, 2-35, 3-137, 4-138, 5-151, 6-155, 7-187, 8-202, 9-220, 10-221.

Kolkata Knight Riders bowling: Harshit Rana 4-0-33-2, Mitchell Starc 3-0-55-1, Varun Chakravarthy 4-0-36-1, Sunil Narine 4-0-34-2, Suyash Sharma 2-0-33-0, Andre Russell 3-0-25-3.

Aware that they cannot afford any more slip-ups, Royal Challengers Bengaluru will have their task cut out when they face dominant hosts Kolkata Knight Riders in a tricky Indian Premier League match in Kolkata on April 21.

RCB’s pursuit of a maiden IPL title has once again hit a roadblock following six losses in seven matches.

With five consecutive defeats, the bottom-ranked RCB now confront the daunting task of winning their remaining seven games to keep their playoff prospects alive.

For a side that has been severely let down by their bowlers and relies heavily on the batting prowess of Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis and veteran Dinesh Karthik, facing KKR presents a significant challenge.

“From a bowling perspective, we don’t have as many weapons. So, unfortunately, it comes down to the batters to make sure that we use our form and our confidence. The scores that we put on the board are probably going to be the only way we are going to get into the competition,” their skipper Du Plessis has admitted earlier.

The fact that they are coming after conceding the IPL’s record total of 287/3 by Sunrisers Hyderabad in their last match will undoubtedly linger in the minds of their bowlers.

It would not be a bad idea to bring back their most expensive (Rs 11.5-crore) buy this season, Alzarri Joseph, to go alongside Mohammed Siraj, who was not picked against SRH.

Joseph has bagged a solitary wicket in three appearances for RCB while also getting hammered at 11.89 runs per over.

Glenn Maxwell’s spin also could have been a nice option, but the struggling Australian all-rounder, who pulled out of the game against SRH citing “mental fatigue”, is also battling a hip strain that may keep him out of action for some more time.

Their batting has centred around the two openers — Kohli and Du Plessis — and Karthik, while the rest of the players have failed miserably.

Kohli is once again leading the run chart with 361 runs at 72.20, though his middle over strike rate of 135 has been a cause of concern.

The star Indian batter more often than not was seen to have slowed down against the spinners in the crucial 7-15th over phase after getting a start in the power play.

Du Plessis has been their next best batter with 232 runs, but it’s seasoned wicketkeeper-batter Karthik, who has been phenomenal in his final IPL season.

The veteran has amassed 226 runs at a strike-rate of 205-plus and in the monstrous chase against SRH, it was his 35-ball 83 that gave them hope of scripting an improbable win before they fell short by 25 runs.

The trio will again have to play a key role against the likes of Sunil Narine, Mitchell Starc and Harshit Rana.

The home side will also be coming on the back of a defeat to Rajasthan Royals in a last-ball finish.

So KKR, who have played one match less then RCB, will also eye a return to winning ways and inch closer to playoffs by taking their tally to 10 points at the midway stage.

The biggest threat for RCB will be Narine, not just with the ball but also with the bat at the top of the order.

Narine, who scored his maiden T20 century in their last match against RR, is KKR’s leading run-getter this season with 276 runs at an incredible strike rate of over 187.

The next best KKR batter is his opening partner Phil Salt, who has struck at a rate of 151-plus.

The pair’s splendid form means that the likes of Rinku Singh, Andre Russell have got limited opportunities.

With a maiden fifty to his name, youngster Angkrish Raghuvanshi has impressed with his batting.

RCB will have to target the KKR top-three to expose their batting and give themselves some chance.

With the city in the grip of an extreme heat wave, the temperature is expected to soar to 41-degree Centigrade come Sunday.

Teams (from):

Kolkata Knight Riders: Shreyas Iyer (c), KS Bharat, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Rinku Singh, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Sherfane Rutherford, Manish Pandey, Andre Russell, Nitish Rana, Venkatesh Iyer, Anukul Roy, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine, Vaibhav Arora, Chetan Sakariya, Harshit Rana, Suyash Sharma, Mitchell Starc, Dushmantha Chameera, Sakib Hussain and Mujeeb Ur Rahman.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Faf du Plessis (c), Glenn Maxwell, Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Anuj Rawat, Dinesh Karthik, Suyash Prabhudessai, Will Jacks, Mahipal Lomror, Karn Sharma, Manoj Bhandage, Mayank Dagar, Vijaykumar Vyshak, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj, Reece Topley, Himanshu Sharma, Rajan Kumar, Cameron Green, Alzarri Joseph, Yash Dayal, Tom Curran, Lockie Ferguson, Swapnil Singh and Saurav Chauhan.

Match starts at 3.30pm.