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Live blog - Royal Challengers Bengaluru vs Kolkata Knight Riders - Narine and Salt overcome Kohli fuelled RCB
By Alagappan MuthuKKR win
Kolkata Knight Riders (Venkatesh 50, Narine 47) beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru 182 for 6 (Kohli 83, Russell 2-29, Rana 2-39) by seven wickets
It took 10 matches for IPL 2024 to produce a victory by the away team. Though it was perhaps predictable that it came at the M Chinnaswamy stadium, where its small ground really does favour whichever team ends up chasing. That, on Friday, was Kolkata Knight Riders, who overcame a Virat Kohli masterclass to chase down 183 and claim the two points.
Faf du Plessis, in the post-match presentation, mentioned that RCB did try to take the learning from the first innings - how the slower balls were sticking in the surface - and put it to use but they were impeded by the dew that had set in. Venkatesh, who was the top-scorer for KKR, mentioned that it got easier for batting at least from one end. How easy? Well, according to ESPNcricinfo's ball-by-ball data, both RCB and KKR bowled a similar number of slower balls - 21 and 22 - but that still cost RCB 13.42 an over whereas KKR slipped by with an economy rate of 5.45. Andre Russell was particularly hard to hit, varying his pace from 150kph all the way down to the 110s kph. When he does the Sunil Narine job and Narine does the Russell job, where is an opposition supposed to go? KKR are looking dangerous this season.
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Rinku's in
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Venkatesh fifty
He came into bat after the field restrictions were done. He came into bat with the ball getting older. He had the benefit of that rapid start. And of having the target in front of him. But still it was hard work - the most hard, ironically enough, when he hit Alzarri Joseph for a magnificent pick-up six over square leg and immediately howled in pain and went down clutching his back.
Venkatesh getting into form early in the season is a big plus for this team.
KKR have boss players in the middle order. They need help at the top. Venkatesh is providing that.
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Under fire
8 sixes given away by Alzarri Joseph, the joint-most in this IPL (min 12 balls bowled) alongside Bhuvneshwar Kumar (SRH), Mayank Markande (SRH) and Varun Chakravarthy (KKR). Mitchell Starc (KKR) is also in there with 7 sixes conceded
KKR are cruising now. That opening stand has put them so far ahead of the game, and dragging them back from there required a bit of genius. This RCB bowling line-up does not have that genius. They aren't even trying the thing that worked in the first innings. According to the host broadcaster, KKR went slower ball for 51% of the innings. RCB have only tried it 24% of theirs.
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RCB take out the openers
With the fielders able to go back on the boundary once more, and the ball getting older and softer - it gets soft from being hit like that too - run-scoring is going to become a lot more difficult.
8 KKR's score, for the loss of two wickets, in two overs after the powerplay
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KKR racing
85 in 6 overs. That's nearly 50% of the target knocked off with 70% of the overs STILL remaining
Mo Siraj
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Alzarri Joseph
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Narine in his 500th game has set it up for his team as batter, scoring 47 off 22 balls.
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Make the new ball count
KKR's opening partnership has been a problem area recently. But if they are to win this game, they'll need to score a lot of their target inside the first six overs, not just because of the field restrictions, but because that's when the ball is hard and new and that's when it comes onto the bat. As it gets softer and older, taking the pace off becomes mighty effective.
KKR are trying to do that regardless of the venue they're playing at by using Sunil Narine at the top, giving him a licence to play those 30 off 10 cameos. Phil Salt doing plenty of damage too. He very nearly didn't play this IPL.
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RCB make 182
33 off 17 balls with three fours and two sixes. Virat Kohli vs Mitchell Starc has been a no-contest
Virat Kohli held that innings on his back on a pitch where the ball was holding up, which once again proves just how good he is when conditions are not in favour of the batters. He made 83 out of a total of 182 at a strike rate of 141. The next best score was 33.
The key thing to Kohli's game this season seems to be an increased focus on hitting the ball in the air. This is from data collected from the 2014 season onwards. It really does tell a tale.
It does look like a brand new Kohli out there.
Pace on is his happy place. It allows him to manipulate gaps in the field.
But here KKR are trying to drown him in spin, but he isn't letting them.
He has hit Sunil Narine for a six. He has hit Varun Chakravarthy for a six.
Hitting spin in the air is rare for Kohli. He is 50 off 36 balls in the 13th over, which means he has not slowed down even after the field restrictions have come off.
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Narine comes on
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It's his 500th game. But the first impression he leaves today reiterates why it is so hard for a spinner to bowl in the powerplay.
Look at the first three balls - they're all unhittable lines and lengths where Narine meticulously follows Green as he makes room outside leg, denying him his hitting arc.
The first of those last three balls signals a shift, because Green now goes leg side, sweeping Narine for four, and now the bowler knows he can't just bowl one side of the wicket.
The other problem bowling to Green is his sheer size and the power he can generate. The fifth ball is on an in-between length, the kind that spinners use to tie down shorter batters, but it is sent for four too.
The final ball is the result of scrambled mine because Narine just puts it there in the slot and Green hoists it down the ground. Even the greats lose it sometime.
Narine has a great record against Kohli, but now KKR have to factor Green into that match-up.
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Kohli is sixy
238 sixes for Virat Kohli. Among RCB players, he's equal with AB de Villiers and only one shy of Chris Gayle. Overall, he's in the top five, only one short of MS Dhoni
From Hemant Brar at the ground: RCB vs KKR has always been a high-voltage rivalry. In 2013, Virat Kohli and Gautam Gambhir had an altercation after Kohli was dismissed. Three years later, Gambhir kicked the chair in the dugout even when his team was winning. And that’s without even considering the actual cricket.
Even today, Kohli was seen having a verbal exchange with Harshit Rana. It’s not clear what the reason was. A couple of balls later, du Plessis reverse-scooped Rana for a six but Rana sent him back on the next ball and celebrated with his arm spread wide before letting out a roar.
That silenced the Chinnaswamy, but only momentarily. Two balls later, Starc bowled one on the pads, and Kohli, using his wrists, flicked it over deep square leg for a six to get the crowd going once again. Kohli was lucky on the next ball as an inside edge went past the stumps, and the keeper, for four.
Before Friday, Kohli and Starc had never played against each other in the IPL. In fact, they were the team-mates at RCB in the two seasons Starc played the IPL previously. In T20Is, Kohli had scored 47 runs off 28 balls against Starc without being dismissed. And the trend has continued today so far, with Kohli taking him for 19 off just eight balls.
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Rana takes out du Plessis
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Harshit Rana's slower ball is taking on the stuff of legend. The quicker ball though is looking very hittable. Even when Faf du Plessis ends up being found out - he was going for the scoop but the bowler pulled his length back and shifted his line outside off - the pace on the ball meant only the slightest bit of contact was enough to send it soaring over the keeper all the way for six.
So just like that night against SRH, Rana went slower ball, and the immediate lack of pace, meant du Plessis, who had committed to another scoop, this time has nothing to work with. This time he has to put all the pace on it himself and he is unable to get enough. Caught at short fine. Great thinking under pressure
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Kohli... with a point to prove?
"I still got it," he said, and then realising he was in front of a camera, tempered it with, "I guess."
Virat Kohli has often said he has nothing to prove but the fact that he said that up there at the end of the last match suggests there has been talk about the way he bats in T20 cricket.
Usually cricketers don't get riled up by talk that comes from outside (fans, critics, media). That's white noise and they spend their whole lives ignoring it, hard though it certainly is.
Kohli saying he's still got it feels like there's some input from within the Indian team about how they want him to go about his business and he has taken that fully on board because his 77 in the last match was full of some very un-Kohli like shots, where he took risks from the get-go, hitting in the air a lot. He put a MUCH lower price on his wicket than he usually does, so much so that he could've been out for 0 had a catch been taken.
This will be a fresh test because Kohli loves pace on the ball and in Narine and Chakravarthy, he's not going to get a lot of it. Can he still be gung-ho when he has to make the pace? When he has to play mystery spin?
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Toss: KKR bowl
Are you watching this game for the...
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Cricket
"We won the first game out of nowhere. Everyone has been in high spirits," says Shreyas Iyer, the KKR captain. He also notes that this pitch is a fresh one and might take a little turn. If that's the case, people usually bat first, but since this is the Chinnaswamy, which is a nearly impossible ground to defend on, he takes the obvious option. Chase.
Shreyas admits to being seriously confused when he is asked about what his team combination is, because "I have two XIs here in front of me. But Anukul Roy comes in"
Faf du Plessis, RCB captain, is also pleased at coming off a close win - they beat Punjab Kings in a tight chase. They're playing the same team from that game.
RCB: F du Plessis (capt), V Kohli, RM Patidar, GJ Maxwell, C Green, KD Karthik, Anuj Rawat (wk), AS Joseph, MJ Dagar, Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal
KKR: PD Salt (wk), VR Iyer, SS Iyer (capt), RK Singh, SP Narine, AD Russell, Ramandeep Singh, MA Starc, AS Roy, Harshit Rana, CV Varun
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Head-to-head
14 vs 18: RCB and KKR's wins against each other. It's 1 vs 4 in KKR's favour over the last five games
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Welcome!
Soooooo, we're not going to be a whole lot of analysis right here. There's some in here, if that really is your fancy. But honestly...
What are you doing coming to an RCB vs KKR game looking for logic and reason? Just kick back, relax and enjoy the train going right off the tracks.
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Language
English
Win Probability
KKR 100%
RCBKKR100%50%100%
Over 17 • KKR 186/3
KKR won by 7 wickets (with 19 balls remaining)
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