Royal challengers Bangalore took on the Kolkata Knight Riders today in the DY Patil Stadium, Mumbai. Kolkata won their first encounter against Chennai super kings whereas RCB lost theirs even after scoring 205 runs. Faf won the toss and chose to field first following the trend due to the dew settling down in the latter stages of the match. Faf further adds that they are unchanged while Shreyas states Southee comes in for Mavi.
Southee had a niggle and wasn’t available for the first match. The pitch seemed tacky and slow to begin with. Akash Deep’s first ball wicket propelled the bowling performance for RCB as wickets kept tumbling after a decent opening partnership. Md.Siraj picked up Ajinkya Rahane who had a resurgence in the last match. The most crucial wicket of the man in form, Shreyas Iyer was picked up by the Srilankan magician Wanindu Hasaranga. Hasaranga was picked up for a whopping 10.75 crores at the 2022 IPL mega auction.
It was some mighty blows from Andre Russell which bolstered the knights to a fighting total of 128. The pitch did not look great for batting but the bowlers earned their credit. It was Umesh Yadav for KKR who delivered the first wicket to Anuj Rawat. Virat Kohli looked in sublime touch as Tim Southee cleverly outfoxed the orange cap holder Faf du Plessis.
Banglore also lost Virat just after Faf’s wicket as the knight riders put the pressure back on the chasing team. A good partnership between Willey and Sherfane ensured that they were on track with the run chase. However, it was Shahbaaz Ahmed who came in and played a racking cameo which changed the course of the game.
KKR didn’t let the foot off the pedal anytime, giving a tough fight. The climax of the match was beautifully built up as RCB required 17 runs in two overs with Venkatesh bowling the 19th over. It was the maverick of Dinesh Karthik which intuited a runout opportunity for the defending team with both the batters at the strikers crease.
However, it was an opportunity gone begging for Shreyas and co. to come back. It was not to be for KKR today as Royal Challengers chased down the total with 4 balls to spare courtesy DK.
Here is the video of the missed run-out chance by KKR:
