IPL 2017: Kolkata Knight Riders thrash Royal Challengers Bangalore by 82 runs.
Woeful with the bat, Kolkata Knight Riders were wonderful with the ball so much so that despite being all-out for 131 in 19.3 overs, they beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 82 runs. This was the lowest ever total in 10 years of the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Their scorecard reading like a telephone number, RCB were floored by a display of fast bowling that shredded the notion that T20 is a batsman’s game. Virat Kohli was out to a poor shot but AB De Villiers and Chris Gayle fell to deliveries that got tall on them. Kedar Jadhav was dismissed by one that stopped and from mocking the home team with chants of ‘RCB, RCB’, the Eden swung around to backing the men whose fast bowlers intimidated in deep purple.
Days after ‘Mankading’ got official sanction, Kohli was ‘Eden-ed’ out. He looked distracted by movement behind the sightscreen but it merely masked a shot everyone in Bengaluru and many in Kolkata had hoped he wouldn’t play first ball.
Spurred by that early success, KKR’s pace battery shone with everyone from Nathan Coulter-Nile, Umesh Yadav, Chris Woakes and Colin de Grandhomme contributing in equal measure. Yadav’s second over encapsulated the pace and control this bowling unit showed. RCB had restricted KKR with spin. The hosts replied with their sultans of swing and won without resorting to spin at all. RCB would have been happy with the target after KKR had scored 65 after the power play. But uncharacteristically for KKR, they didn’t put a prize on their wickets. At least Yusuf Pathan, Colin de Grandhomme and Manish Pandey didn’t and Robin Uthappa went trying to play against the turn to Samuel Badree who made a good comeback after going for 18 in his first over. Pathan fell to the oldest trick in the book, leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal drawing him out with a wide down the leg-side. Pandey played a Chahal full-toss to Samuel Badree at mid-wicket and even before the press box scorer had announced his full name on arrival, de Grandhomme was gone trying to hit his way out of trouble. Used by Kohli at one go, Chahal ended his spell conceding only two runs in his final over using the bounce and some turn to his advantage.
When in successive deliveries Coulter-Nile and Surya Kumar Yadav went, the Eden had started chanting ‘RCB, RCB.’ The match’s top-scorer Narine began with aplomb picking up the gauntlet thrown by fellow Trinidadian Badree. The man whose face gives little way showed he has dancing feet, hitting three fours and a six in the first over. By the end of the third over, KKR were 39/0. Gambhir went in the next over and though that yielded 13, it was also the beginning of the Knights losing wickets at regular intervals. But though their batting wasn’t at its Sunday best, the bowling surely was.