With a 22-ball 47, Sunil Narine marks the historic 500th T20 match; he thanks the KKR management for their support

Bengaluru: On Friday, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) defeated Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) by seven wickets at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium thanks to a 22-ball 47 from Sunil Narine, who made his 500th T20 match memorable at the bat. In the seventh over of the innings, Narine put on 86 runs for the first wicket, taking the RCB bowling to task. Narine destroyed the game with five sixes and two fours throughout his knock.

At the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, this was KKR’s sixth straight victory over RCB since 2016. From 2008 to 2015, RCB had a 4-2 home victory record versus the opposition. KKR had previously lost their previous four games in a row, but they have now won five of their past six games versus RCB. Well, that’s a milestone. There should be 500 more in the future. Fantastic to play this way,” Narine said after the match.

Narine appreciated the support crew for their encouragement while batting alone. “Just self-belief and staff members who offer encouragement.”A little effort goes a long way, and it is helping,” he said. Venkatesh acknowledged Narine for relieving strain at the top of the order after he smashed fifty out of thirty balls.

“The evening’s ball was going pretty nicely. We should give credit to Sunil Narine, whose runs relieved our burden. The southpaw said, “We only needed to complete the paperwork. KKR’s strategy was best represented by Venkatesh, who was making a concerted effort to become relevant again in white ball form.

Pacer Alzarri Joseph took the brunt of the left-hander’s aggressive intentions from the outset, as he quickly discovered his range. But KKR should give huge thanks to Narine and Salt for their incredible power-hitting in the Power Play, which completely overwhelmed the bowlers for RCB.

The Chinnaswamy surface did have a tinge of sluggishness, but the RCB bowlers made very little attempt to take advantage of it by hitting slower balls than their Knight Riders rivals. However, Mayank Dagar, a left-arm spinner, cleaned him up, ending Narine’s time at the crease.

With this victory, KKR moved up to the second spot, forcing the Rajasthan Royals to drop to third. The table is led by the Chennai Super Kings. It’s interesting to note that despite having four points each, CSK, KKR, and RR are all positioned according to the NRR.