In the 35th encounter of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 21 runs at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. With this win, KKR ended their four-match losing streak, and climbed to the seventh spot in the points table with six points.
RCB skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and invited the visitors to bat first. The English batter Jason Roy (56) gave a fiery opening start to the team and knit an opening partnership of 83 runs with Narayan Jagadeesan (27). After an explosive powerplay, the Kolkata-based outfit lost its first wicket in the form of Jagadeesan. Soon after the first dismissal, the dangerous-looking Roy also got out. Both of them were dismissed by Vijaykumar Vyshak. Skipper Nitish Rana (48) and the southpaw batter, Venkatesh Iyer (31) did not waste the momentum and struck the balls out of the park, and in the end, the late firing cameos from Rinku Singh (18)* and David Wiese (12)*, helped KKR to score 200/ 5 in their 20 overs.
In response, RCB also started their innings in a blazing way. Kohli (54) took charge and started to attack the opponent’s bowling attack in the powerplay, but the Kolkata-based unit drew the first blood, as the young leg spinner Suyash Sharma got rid of Faf Du Plessis (17). Both Shahbaz Ahmed (2) and Glenn Maxwell (5) could not be able to stay on the crease, but Mahipal Lomror (34) showed some intent in the chase, along with the skipper, and stitched a partnership of 55 runs, but all his efforts went in vain, as he got out by Varun Chakaravarthy. All eyes were on Virat for the chase, but could not able to carry the team, as a sharp catch from Iyer made him depart to the dugout, and afterward, the batting lineup of Bengaluru surrendered and fell short of 21 runs.
The men-in-purple from Kolkata had hit the nail on the head while defending. Chakravarthy and Suyash claimed three and two wickets respectively, along with Andre Russell who also got two wickets. The three of them were very economical and were the main catalysts in denting RCB’s chase.
In the first innings with the ball, the Bengaluru-based unit’s bowlers were not on their mark, as they leaked the runs on a batting-friendly deck. David Willey and Harshal Patel had a very tough day in the business. Vyshak had a very expensive spell but also claimed two wickets. Wanindu Hasaranga also scalped two wickets. Mohammed Siraj got a wicket as well, which helped him to become the leading wicket-taker of the tournament once again.
For his brilliant bowling spell, Varun Chakaravarthy was adjudged Player of the Match, as he claimed three wickets, by spending 27 runs in his four overs quota.
Scorecard:
Kolkata Knight Riders:200/5, Overs 20, Jason Roy 56, Wanindu Hasaranga 2/24
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 179/8, Overs 20, Virat Kohli 54, Varun Chakaravarthy 3/27