In the 31st match of the VIVO Indian Premier League 2021, Kolkata Knight Riders won the game by nine wickets against Royal Challengers Bangalore. The Knight Riders bundled RCB for a mere total of 92, the former chased the target comfortably with 60 balls to spare. RCB 92/10, Overs 19, Andre Russell (3/9). KKR 94/1, Overs 10, Shubman Gill (48).
Kolkata Knight Riders entered this fixture on the back of a disastrous run in the first phase of IPL 2021. They lost five fixtures out of seven and registered their third victory of the season as they beat KKR by nine wickets. After losing the toss, KKR had to bowl, they got the big wicket of Virat Kohli on Prasidh Krishna’s bowling in the second over itself, which set the momentum. Within the powerplay, the two-time IPL winners got rid of the openers. Andre Russell struck twice in the same over when he got the wicket of Srikar Bharat and AB de Villiers, the latter was dismissed by the all-rounder for a golden duck on an unplayable yorker. The Kolkata-based franchise’s mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy got two wickets in two deliveries when he sent back Glenn Maxwell and Wannindu Hasaranga on consecutive balls. RCB couldn’t sustain the fall of wickets, KKR got the tail-enders as soon as possible. The below-par target of 93 was chased down by the KKR openers in ten overs itself at the loss of just one wicket. Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer hammered the RCB bowlers across all parts of the ground and secured the victory in style.
Apart from the toss, nothing went RCB’s way, their batting line-up collapsed as the established players couldn’t score runs. The RCB batsmen couldn’t manage to stay at the crease and built a partnership.
Chakravarthy and Russell pocketed three wickets each while Lockie Ferguson grabbed two and Prasidh had one scalp to his name. On the other hand, Yuzvendra Chahal took the solitary wicket for RCB.
With this victory, KKR has acquired the fifth spot with six points in eight matches, while RCB retains its third position with 10 points in eight fixtures.