Narine all round show as Kolkata defeated Bangalore

Kolkata Knight Riders 186 for 3 (Venkatesh 50, Narine 47, Salt 30) beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru 182 for 6 (Virat 83*, Green 33, Russell 2-29) by seven wickets

Kolkata: A power-packed batting performance, led by Venkatesh Iyer (50 off 30) and Sunil Narine (47 off 22), helped Kolkata Knight Riders chase down 183 comfortably against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in Match 10 of TATA IPL 2024 and register their second win in a row, at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

Narine and Phil Salt (30 off 20) set the tone, smashing 86 from 6.3 overs for the opening wicket.

Venkatesh Iyer then carried forward the momentum and cracked a counter-attacking 50 off 30 to power KKR to a seven-wicket win.

Earlier, excellent spells from Andre Russell and Harshit Rana had helped KRR restrict RCB to 182/6.

Chasing 183, KKR got off to a blistering start as Phil Salt made his intentions clear in as early as the first over, smashing 6,4,6 off Mohammed Siraj. His opening partner Sunil Narine joined the party and took over the aggressor's role, smashing five powerful sixes to take KKR to 85/0 at the end of the Powerplay.

The visitors hit four fours and seven sixes inside the first six overs to set the tone.

Faf du Plessis then introduced spin into the attack for the first time in the seventh over, and it did the trick as Mayank Dager cleaned up the dangerous Narine on 47(22) via a quicker one.

Impact Player Vijaykumar Vyshak then struck another crucial blow, dismissing Salt (30 off 20) in the next over.

Vyshak had a chance to make it two wickets in two overs but Dayal dropped Shreyas Iyer on 9 in the 10th over as KKR reached 112/2 at the half way mark.

Venkatesh Iyer then took the attack to Alzarri Joseph and smashed a couple of sixes and as many fours to take 20 off the 11th over.

Iyer looked confident and at ease as he brought up his fifty off just 29 balls.

Venkatesh and Shreyas added 75 off 45 balls to bring the equation down to 16 needed off 30. Venkatesh (50 off 30) departed soon after getting to his fifty.

Shreyas (39* off 24), though, took over the mantle and finished it off in style with a six as KKR chased down the target with 19 balls to spare.

Earlier, Kolkata Knight Riders captain won the toss and elected to field.

RCB got off to a breezy start but lost captain Faf du Plessis in the process.

KKR pacer Harshit Rana struck early in the second over as he bounced back strongly to dismiss Faf du Plessis via a slower one after being scooped for a six over third man off the previous delivery.

Du Plessis had adjusted well to scoop one over third man, and he tried to scoop one over fine leg off the next, but the pace off the ball did him in, and he mistimed his scoop to short fine leg.

Virat Kohli and Cameron Green then went on the counter-attack and hit five fours and two sixes inside the Powerplay to take RCB to 61/1.

Kohli and Green added 65 off 42 and just as the partnership was growing bigger and better, Andre Russell provided a crucial breakthrough, cleaning up Green (33 off 21) after being hit for a six off the previous ball.

The visitors kept it tight for the next couple of overs, not conceding a single boundary.

Kohli and Maxwell finally brough the momentum back with some attacking strokes as Kohli brought up his second consecutive fifty off 36 balls with a six and a single.

The visitors kept chipping away at the wickets as Rana came back to dismiss Anuj Rawat and gave away just five in the 18th over. RCB managed just 29/3 from the 15–18-over phase.

Karthik (20 off 8) and Kohli then provided a vital final push, cracking four sixes in the last two overs to take RCB to 182/6 at the end of 20 overs. Kohli remained unbeaten on 83 off 59, hitting four fours and as many sixes.

source-iplt20.com