In vain, Kohli scores 83; KKR dominates Bengaluru

The Indian Premier League’s first away club to win was Kolkata Knight Riders, who could not overcome Royal Challengers Bengaluru despite Virat Kohli’s 83 runs.

Playing in his 500th T20 encounter, Phil Salt and Sunil Narine came out firing from the first ball, giving Kolkata a great start with 183 runs to chase.

After Salt scored eighteen runs in the first over, Narine hit sixteen runs off Yash Dayal. 85 runs were scored by the pair in only six overs. Even though Mayank Dagar dismissed the West Indies all-rounder for 47, Narine was on the verge of scoring his first half-century of the year. Even though Vijaykumar Vyshak claimed a wicket in his first over, Kolkata continued to roll.

After Salt was removed from the game, skipper Shreyas Iyer and Venkatesh Iyer combined to score a ton of runs, further infuriating Bengaluru supporters. After Alzarri Joseph’s over, Venkatesh scored 20 runs to push Kolkata very near to the goal. He took his squad almost to the finish line until he lost his life after reaching his thirteenth T20 fifty. With seven wickets remaining and 19 balls remaining, Shreyas hit Dagar for a six to end the contest.

At the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru, Kolkata had earlier won the toss and ordered Bengaluru to bat first. When Harshit Rana sent Bengaluru’s skipper Faf du Plessis back for eight, Kolkata made history. Rana was the hero of the team’s last encounter against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Even so, Kohli continued to pursue the Kolkata spinners, hitting Mitchell Starc for a six and a boundary in the very next over.

Cameron Green proved to be a dependable companion for Kohli as they amassed 65 runs for the second wicket. With an eye toward developing a relationship, Shreyas Iyer handed the ball to Andre Russell, who vindicated his captain’s confidence by getting rid of Green for 33. Throughout it all, Kohli stayed unwavering and reached his second half-century of the year off just 36 balls. Maxwell, who took Green’s position at the bat and scored 28 off 19 after being dropped twice by Kolkata fielders, was fortunate.
The home side was soon without Rajat Patidar and Anuj Rawat, but Dinesh Kartik once again made the most of his time in the middle, scoring 20 runs off of just eight balls to push Kolkata over 180.

Brief scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 186/3 in 16.5 overs (Iyer 50, Narine 47) defeated Royal Challengers Bengaluru 182/6 in 20 overs (Kohli 83, Green 33; Russell 2/29).