BENGALURU: Every time Royal Challengers Bangalore have looked to their middle order to see them through a chase this season, their fragility has been exposed.
On Wednesday night at the M Chinnaswamy stadium, a familiar storyline played out as the hosts, who chose to field, faltered in chasing Kolkata Knight Riders' total of 200/5 and ended with 179/8 to hand the visitors a convincing 21-run victory. A fiery opening stand, late surge by the middle-order and a disciplined bowling performance in the death overs revived KKR's fortunes. RCB failed on all three counts.
When stand-in skipper Virat Kohli (54, 37b; 6x4) was dismissed, RCB needed 86 off 48 balls with five wickets in hand, but their overdependence on the top order put paid to their hopes. Also, the 69 runs that they gave away in the last five overs when KKR batted came back to haunt them.
In keeping with the trend, Faf du Plessis (17) and Kohli got the team off to a good start, but the former made an early exit falling to leggie Suyash Sharma (2/ 30). Shahbaz Ahmed did no justice to his promotion to the no. 3 slot, while Glenn Maxwell (5) was scalped by spinner Varun Chakravarthy (3/27). Losing three wickets in Powerplay hit RCB hard. Although Kohli and Mahipal Lomror (34) fought back, the others who followed them capitulated.
1/10:IPL 2023: KKR beat RCB to revive campaign
IANS
2/10:KKR beat RCB
<p>Kolkata Knight Riders revived their faltering IPL campaign with a 21-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore on Wednesday. </p>AP
3/10:Jason Roy
<p>Jason Roy's 56 and a 21-ball 48 by skipper Nitish Rana guided two-time champions KKR to 200/5 after they were put in to bat first in Bengaluru. </p>IANS
4/10:Roy and Jagadeesan
<p>KKR set a daunting target as Roy, who smashed five sixes in his 29-ball blitz, put on an opening stand of 83 with Narayan Jagadeesan (27).</p>PTI
5/10:Rana and Iyer
<p>Nitish Rana and Venkatesh Iyer (31) formed another destructive partnership of 80 for the third wicket. </p>PTI
6/10:Wanindu Hasaranga
<p>Wanindu Hasaranga sent back the left-handed duo of Rana and Iyer in the 18th over as he returned figures of 2/24. </p>AFP
7/10:Rinku Singh
<p>But RCB's attempt to stem the flow of runs failed as Rinku Singh clubbed an unbeaten 18 off 10 balls and David Wiese made 12 off just three deliveries.</p>AFP
8/10:Varun Chakravarthy
<p>Varun Chakravarthy took 3/27 as KKR bowlers restricted RCB to 179/8, snapping their four-match losing streak in the tournament. </p>AFP
9/10:Man of the match
<p>Chakravarthy, who was named man of the match, was ably supported by Suyash Sharma and Andre Russell -- both taking two wickets each. </p>AP
10/10:Virat Kohli
<p>Venkatesh Iyer pulled off a brilliant low catch in the outfield to dismiss Virat Kohli for 54 and silence the home crowd. </p>ANIEarlier, Jason Roy's sizzling form in the Indian summer continued as the big-hitting opener unleashed an array of strokes during his 29-ball 56 (4x4; 5x6). KKR couldn't have asked for a better start as Roy and a struggling Jagadeesan (27), powered to 66 in the first six overs. While Jagadeesan poked around and could not get his eye in, Roy had no such trouble as he found the gaps comfortably but his domineering knock took flight in the sixth over.
He took Shahbaz Ahmed to the cleaners, striking four consecutive maximums as the left-arm tweaker leaked 25 runs. For the first six, Roy effortlessly flicked through midwicket, then stepped out and punched the next delivery through mid-on before coming up with a slog-sweep and a pull which cleared the ropes. The visitors were pegged back by Mohd Siraj and Wanindu Hasaranga (2/ 24). But it was home-grown pacer Vyshak Vijaykumar (2/41) who dealt a double blow for KKR.
While Jagadeesan pulled a bouncer to deep midwicket, Roy was foxed by a yorker in the same over.
Skipper Nitish Rana (48; 21b; 3x4;4x6), who was put down on 5 and 19, made the most of the hosts' largesse. He sent a Vyshak delivery over long-on for a massive six and later took on Harshal Patel, who was punished for his erring lines. Hasaranga halted Rana's charge as the batter top-edged to Vyshak who collected a good low catch at short third man.
