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Bengaluru: Sunil Narine blasted a fifty off 15 balls, the joint-fastest in IPL' while Chris Lynn slammed a 50 off 21 balls to help Kolkata Knight Riders beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by six wickets and move to second in the IPL 2017 points table.
Narine (54 from 17 balls) reached his fifty in just 15 balls, the same number of deliveries his KKR team-mate Yusuf Pathan had consumed in 2014 against Sunrisers Hyderabad, as he played some stunning shots much to the disappointment of the home crowd at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium.
The West Indian and his opening partner Chris Lynn (50 from 22 balls) put on 105 runs from just 6.1 overs in a show of batting pyrotechnics as KKR chased down the target of 159 in a jiffy. They romped home with 4.5 overs to spare.
Yuzvendra Chahal (4-0-39-1), Sreenath Aravind (1-0-26-0) and Samuel Badree (3-0-40-0) bore the brunt of the fury from Narine and Lynn. The KKR batting duo also notched up the record of the highest powerplay total in the IPL as the visiting side were 105 for no loss at the end of six overs.
The win, their eighth of the season, put KKR in a good position for the play-offs berth with 16 points from 12 matches. Already out of reckoning, RCB, on the other hand, slumped to their 10th defeat in 13 matches to remain at the bottom of league table with mere five points.
Colin de Grandhomme (31) and captain Gautam Gambhir (14) took KKR on the threshold of victory before Manish Pandey completed the formalities as KKR reached 159 for four in 15.1 overs.
Earlier, Travis Head smashed a brilliant unbeaten 75 after Mandeep Singh’s 52 as RCB recovered from a top-order collapse to post 158 for six after being put into bat.
The big names like Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers were dismissed cheaply as RCB slumped to 34 for three in the fifth over. Mandeep (52) and Head then stitched 71 runs for the fourth wicket to take the score past 150-run mark.
Kohli (5), who has struggled this season, did not take advantage of the dropped catch and was out the next ball with Yadav having the last laugh. The change of pace did the trick as Kohli was beaten by Yadav’s delivery to be out LBW.
Mandeep, on the other hand, hit some lusty blows at the other end, including a six off Chris Woakes, but another wicket -- in the form of de Villiers -- fell in fifth over.
Brief scores
RCB - 158 for 6 (Head 75*, Mandeep 52, Yadav 3-36)
Kolkata Knight Riders - 159 for 4 (Narine 54, Lynn 50, de Grandhomme 31)
Result - Kolkata Knight Riders won by 6 wickets
