In the 29th game of IPL 2018, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) claimed a superb 6-wicket victory (with 5 balls remaining) against the hosts Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at M Chinnaswamy Stadium (Bengaluru) on Sunday night. RCB put a total of 175/4 in 20 overs which was successfully chased down by KKR in 19.1 overs after losing 4 wickets.
KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik decided to field first after winning the toss. In the RCB innings, openers Quinton de Kock and Brendon McCullum got a good start as they put a superb 67 runs opening partnership.
Soon, Quinton (29 runs) and McCullum (38 runs) both were dismissed, skipper Virat Kohli took the responsibility to carry the innings on his shoulder. However, Kohli couldn’t get much help from the other batsmen.
The RCB skipper was not out at the end of the innings on 68 off 44 balls with 5 fours and 3 sixes. At the end of the 20 overs, RCB managed to score 175/4.
Among the KKR bowlers, the birthday boy Andre Russell (3/31) got three wickets while Kuldeep Yadav (1/20) claimed the other wicket.
Chasing down the target, KKR had a very good start as they scored 51/0 at the end of the powerplay. Soon after, there was a rain-interruption during that innings when KKR was 55/0 in 6.3 overs. It was around 30 minutes delay in that innings, however, no over-reduction was brought in that innings.
Soon after the restart, KKR opener Sunil Narine (27 runs) was dismissed while another opener Chris Lynn continued his innings.
While Lynn slowly grew up his innings, other batsmen helped him to make the chase comfortable. Robin Uthappa was looking in a good touch before getting out for 36 runs off 21 balls with 3 fours and 3 sixes.
While Nitish Rana was retired-hurt for 15 runs and birthday boy Andre Russell scored a golden duck, skipper Dinesh Karthik played a fast 23 runs knock off just 10 balls.
During that successful chasing, Lynn was unbeaten on 62 runs off 52 balls (7 fours and only six) while young Shubman Gill was not out on 5 runs off 2 balls as KKR reached the target in 19.1 overs after losing 4 wickets.
Among the RCB bowlers, only Mohammed Siraj (2/40) and Murugan Ashwin (2/36) picked up two wickets each.
Here are some Twitter reactions of the match:
https://twitter.com/danevn81/status/990660993721274371
Dissolve #RCB And Create A New Team Without Having Any Link With Vijay Mallya. The Curse Of People Whose Money He's Fled With Will Never Let Them Win Any Match. It's Hard To Watch Virat Kohli's Team Losing Every Match.🙏 #RCBvKKR #RCBvsKKR #KKRvRCB
— Sir Jadeja fan (@SirJadeja) April 29, 2018
https://twitter.com/Ajaykumargattu/status/990664634452426753
https://twitter.com/DeepakNair1991/status/990664649367478272
https://twitter.com/subhachat07/status/990420989153427456
https://twitter.com/CheezFryz/status/990664664110452737
https://twitter.com/ThatCricketBuff/status/990652842623946753
https://twitter.com/inkedvirat/status/990621365056212992
https://twitter.com/DanishSait/status/990633379614801920
https://twitter.com/HashmeNabeel/status/990616974005817345
50+ wide balls for #RCB this season. Over seven extra balls a game. #RCBvKKR #IPL
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) April 29, 2018
https://twitter.com/fakingnews/status/990637753481224193
175 seems to be a good score on this deck, hopefully it is RCB bowling proof.
— Nikhil 🏏 (@CricCrazyNIKS) April 29, 2018
Manan Vohra Gone On Golden Duck. Meanwhile Sarfaraz Khan. 🙊 #RCBvKKR #RCBvsKKR pic.twitter.com/tOtuWmtpAK
— Sir Jadeja fan (@SirJadeja) April 29, 2018
https://twitter.com/Cricketician_/status/990626405649133569
#RCBvKKR
RCB nd Kkr fans now….😬😬 pic.twitter.com/BlxeUzlPXI— Anshu (@anujbaghla1122) April 29, 2018
https://twitter.com/Gujju_Jon/status/990653671288455168
https://twitter.com/loyallarents/status/990649928627113984