KKR beat RCB by 21 runs© BCCI
Kolkata Knight Riders returned to winning ways with an encouraging win over the Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore on Wednesday. Kolkata Knight Riders conjured up a spin magic after Jason Roy‘s sterling fifty to snap their four-match losing streak with a 21-win over Royal Challengers Bangalore. The English opener led the show with a 29-ball 56 as Kolkata Knight Riders batters fired in unison to notch up a fighting 200/5 after RCB captain Virat Kohli opted to bowl at their home den.
But the spin duo of Varun Chakravarthy (3/24) and rookie Suyash Sharma (2/30) created a top-order mayhem, before Andre Russell (2/29) broke Kohli’s resistance to restrict RCB to 179 for eight.
The win took KKR (six points; eight matches) up from the bottom-half of the table to seventh spot, ahead of Mumbai Indians on net run-rate. MI have a match in hand. RCB remained fifth with eight points from eight matches.
Orange Cap, Purple Cap
RCB’s regular skipper Faf du Plessis continues to lead the top run-getter’s list with a tally of 422 runs in eight games. Kohli follows him with 333 runs in eight matches. RCB’s MOhammed Siraj is currently the joint-highest wicket-taker with 14 scalps along with Gujarat Titans’ Rashid Khan. KKR’s Varun Chakaravarthy follows then with 13 wickets.
Leading the side in absence of Faf Du Plessis, Kohli struck a 34-ball 54 and kept their hopes up in the 201-run chase after du Plessis (17) Glenn Maxwell (5) fell cheaply.
But all hell broke loose when Venkatesh Iyer took a game-changing catch at deep midwicket boundary to dismiss Kohli, off Russell.
He dived to his left and rolled over but held the ball firmly as Kohli walked back in disbelief.
With 86 needed from 48 balls, it was left for Dinesh Karthik (22) to keep up their chase but Chakravarthy had the last laugh when he had the veteran RCB keeper-batter en route to his three-for, and it seemed all over for RCB.
WIth PTI inputs
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