Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders are up against each other in the Eliminator of the Indian Premier League 2021 in Sharjah. KKR are looking for their third IPL title while RCB are in the quest to break the nil.
Virat Kohli won the toss and opted to bat first. He named an unchanged playing XI from their last league match against Delhi Capitals. Eoin Morgan also named an unchanged playing XI.
Also Read: Sunil Narine breaks RCB’s backbone with four wickets, watch here
Devdutt Padikkal and Virat Kohli gave a good start to RCB in the powerplay and added 49 runs for the first wicket in the first five overs. Lockie Ferguson dismissed Padikkal for 21 and gave KKR a much-needed breakthrough and Srikar Bharat walked out to bat at 3. RCB scored 53/1 inside the powerplay.
Then KKR tighten the screw on RCB and didn’t give any boundary for the next five over. Sunil Narine dismissed Bharat in his first over for a 16-ball knock for 9 runs. Kohli went for a slog but Narine kept the ball straight and bowled him for 39.
AB de Villiers came and showed his intent but Narine was too hot to handle for him as well. De Villiers got bowled for 11. RCB was going nowhere with their batting and Narine nailed the final nail in the coffin in his final over when he dismissed Glenn Maxwell for 15. Narine took 4/21 in his four-over spell. RCB huffed and puffed to 138/7 in 20 overs.
In response, Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer took KKR off to a good start. The duo added 41 runs before Harshal Patel dismissed Gill with a slower ball. Yuzvendra Chahal took no time in removing Rahul Tripathi. Venkatesh Iyer kept his cool and dug deep but Harshal Patel’s variations did the trick once again.
Sunil Narine came out to bat at number 5 as a floater. This throw of the dice paid off for KKR as he smashed Daniel Christian for 22 runs. He smashed his first three balls for consecutive sixes along with two wides and two singles. In the process, Narine became the first batsman in the history of IPL to hit three sixes on the first three balls of his innings.
Also Read: Sunil Narine smashes Daniel Christian for three sixes in a row, watch here
He got out after scoring 26 runs in 15 balls where he hit three sixes. KKR ran away with the game thanks to this cameo by Narine. Mohammed Siraj tried to pull things back when he dismissed Narine and Dinesh Karthik in the same over but KKR was still ahead. Shakib Al Hasan remained calm and took KKR over the line with four wickets in hand.
See how Twitter reacted to this game;
Change of venue, changed the way they played cricket in the second half. Special victory by #kkr
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) October 11, 2021
Congratulations @KKRiders – This has been a stunning stunning campaign. To turn it around with a young Indian core, in the absence of Andre Russell. Brilliant resurgence of Narine and Shakib … Adding to the festivities in the city of joy #KKRvsRCB
— Jatin Sapru (@jatinsapru) October 11, 2021
That’s the last of Virat as IPL captain. Never to win a title #RCBvsKKR
— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) October 11, 2021
Who’s panicking more at this stage – Kolkata or Bangalore? #RCBvKKR
— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) October 11, 2021
Feel for Bangalore, playing with 10 players most games and paying the price today. Lucky charm khilana hai toh Karn Sharma se behtar kaun hi hai #RCBvKKR
— Virender Sehwag (@virendersehwag) October 11, 2021
Excellent bowling by @yuzi_chahal, but RCB have so few to defend that it may not be of much avail
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) October 11, 2021
I think #KKR are ahead but not by very much. Watch out for the Power Play. Could be decisive
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 11, 2021
#RCB fought hard, but have to blame themselves for posting such a poor score after a good start. Kohli played his part but Maxwell and ABD couldn’t get going which hurt the team. Another 12-15 runs could have made a huge difference
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah) October 11, 2021
Virat Kohli as #RCB captain in #IPL from 2011 to 2021
140 matches, won 66, lost 70, Nr 4, %win 47.17
Batting: 139 inns, 4871 runs, ave 41.99, S/r 133.05, 100s: 5, 50s: 35#RCBvKKR #RCBvsKKR #KKRvRCB #KKRvsRCB#IPL2021 #IPLinUAE— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) October 11, 2021
