Captain Shreyas Iyer scored his first IPL half-century since May 2022 with a 36-ball fifty. Phil Salt and Ramandeep Singh also made explosive cameos, and Andre Russell followed up with a three-for. On Sunday, Kolkata Knight Riders overcame a late scare from Karn Sharma to defeat Royal Challengers Bengaluru by a narrow margin at the Eden Gardens.
Iyer finished the day as KKR’s highest run scorer with seven fours and a six. Salt also scorched with a fiery 14-ball 48, and Ramandeep finished with an undefeated 24 off of only nine balls, helping KKR to a decisive 222/6 in 20 overs. To keep RCB in the hunt, Will Jacks and Rajat Patidar struck fifty-two runs in a 102-run partnership for the third wicket.
However, RCB moved from 137/2 to 155/6 thanks to decisive strikes from Russell and Sunil Narine. RCB suffered their eighth loss of the tournament after being all out for 220 in the last over, despite a late scare from Karn. Meanwhile, KKR surged to the top of the points table.
Karn cut Starc over backward point for six with 21 runs needed off the last over, and he survived a caught-behind appeal the very next ball. Karn remained firmly in the crease, hitting Starc with sixes over backward point and additional cover.
However, Starc emerged victorious as he managed to hold onto a deft catch with his follow-through, dismissing Karn for twenty off seven deliveries. Lockie Ferguson was run out trying to score the second run as Salt agitated the bails in midair, giving KKR a convincing victory and heartbreaking the RCB. Three runs were needed off the final ball.
After choosing to bowl first, RCB had a rough start when Salt turned Mohammed Siraj’s short deliveries for four and six, respectively. After Yash Dayal and Siraj used a yorker strategy to silence Narine, Salt proceeded to strike boundaries, taking two fours off the latter. In the fourth over, he struck two sixes and four boundaries off Lockie Ferguson, scoring 28 runs.
Salt lost wicket at deep mid-wicket while trying to knock another boundary off Siraj, missing the opportunity to set a new IPL 2024 record for fastest fifty. Salt had struck seven fours and three sixes. Narine lofted a slower ball from Dayal to long off, but fell in the next over. In order to give Dayal the wicket of Angkrish Raghuvanshi, RCB ended the power play with a backpedalling Cameron Green making a one-handed leaping catch at mid-wicket.
After that, RCB slowed down KKR’s hitters, but Iyer occasionally hit boundaries to keep the scoreboard moving. Following Green’s draw to the deep, Venkatesh Iyer used his short balls to silence Rinku Singh. After lofting three boundaries to break free, Rinku would heave off the glove to fine-leg a slower ball from Ferguson.
Before he and Andre Russell got 23 runs off Dayal in the 17th over to get his fifty in 23 balls, Iyer reverse-swept Karn for a boundary. Iyer attempted a loft off Green shortly after, but he was spotted by a long-off diving across to his left. In the 19th over, Ramandeep blasted two sixes and a four against Siraj. In the last over, KKR passed the 220-run mark when he and Russell combined for three fours off Dayal.
Virat Kohli, chasing 223 runs, got off to a strong start by hitting two sixes and a four. However, Kohli misdirected a slower, higher full-toss from Harshit Rana back to the bowler, and third umpire Michael Gough was asked to make the call.
The ball was dipping on Kohli, who was batting out of his crease, according to the review system, which compares a batter’s height to his waist with the height of the ball. Kohli was incensed and expressed his discontent to the umpires before leaving for eighteen runs.
Jacks and Patidar worked together to get RCB back on track after Faf du Plessis was dismissed cheaply by Varun Chakaravarthy while Venkatesh Iyer held on to a low catch at mid-on. Jacks demonstrated his strength in front-foot attack by hitting three sixes and a four off Starc during the final power-play over, which resulted in 22 runs.
After breaking Starc, Jacks scored his first IPL fifty in just 29 balls by hitting a six and four against Chakaravarthy. In the tenth and eleventh overs, Patidar entered the boundary-hitting fraternity. He used the pull and slog-sweep technique to his advantage, hitting two fours and as many sixes off Suyash Sharma. He then bowled Narine for two maximums and reached his half-century in just twenty-one balls.
After Russell dismissed Jacks and Patidar in four balls with slower balls, and Narine removed Green and Mahipal Lomror for a cheap price, KKR mounted a rally. Impact Player Suyash Prabhudessai helped KKR grind out some clean overs, hitting three boundaries before diving to long-off a slower delivery from Harshit.
The last great chance for the RCB to win the chase, Karthik, ducked past the third man and found a gap at backward point to score two boundaries. Russell would be hit for six and four by him before the pacer returned to avert Karthik’s attempt to swerve over fine leg, but the keeper collected the top-edge. Karn attempted to conjure up a stunning victory for RCB, but KKR prevailed by protecting 21 runs in the last over.
Quick scores: Royal Challengers Bengaluru 220 (Will Jacks 55, Rajat Patidar 52; Andre Russell 3-25, Harshit Rana 2-33) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 222/6 in 20 overs (Shreyas Iyer 50, Phil Salt 48; Cameron Green 2-35, Yash Dayal 2-56) by one run.