On Sunday night, hosts Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) suffered another defeat and this time against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 6 wickets (with 5 balls to spare) at M Chinnaswamy Stadium (Bengaluru).
KKR captain Dinesh Karthik decided to field first after winning the toss. With the major help from skipper Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 68 runs knock, RCB managed to score 175/4 in 20 overs.
In reply, KKR successfully chased down the target in 19.1 overs after losing 4 wickets in the rain-interrupted innings.
Now, we will briefly talk about some important reasons for RCB’s defeat in this game.
Middle-order failure
While RCB openers Quinton de Kock and Brendon McCullum made a good start with a brilliant 67-run opening partnership and skipper Virat Kohli took the major responsibility to carry the innings, other RCB batsmen failed to contribute positively in that innings.
After a good start, RCB should score more runs as they had wickets in the hands too at the end of the innings. However, they couldn’t raise the run-rate much in the middle of the innings due to their wickets were falling and that obstructed them to put a big total on the board.
Poor fielding
The hosts showed poor fielding during KKR’s chasing. RCB cricketer Murugan Ashwin missed an early vital catch of Chris Lynn when he was on just 7 runs, later that right-handed batsman received the Player of the Match award after scoring an unbeaten 62 runs.
Their ground fielding was also not good on that night as some important runs were leaked by their fielders from that. Though skipper Virat Kohli took a sensational catch to dismiss KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik, it was too late to effect in that game.
Bowlers had lack of control with the ball in hand
During the KKR innings, RCB bowlers had lack of control with the ball. The bowlers should need to more concentrate on their line and length which could be effective in the game. In the most of important situations, RCB bowlers delivered weak balls which cost them hugely. Those deliveries took the control from RCB and they failed to make any further comeback in the game.
KKR opener Chris Lynn’s responsible guidance
KKR opener Chris Lynn played a very responsible knock of unbeaten 62 runs of 52 balls and guided his team for an important away victory. After RCB cricketer Murugan Ashwin dropped his chance for 7 runs, Lynn punished the hosts with patience. Specially, his continuous controlled sweep shots against RCB spinners helped him as well as team hugely. His brilliant responsible unbeaten knock kept away KKR from any under pressure situation.
