The target was built around Virat Kohli's impressive unbeaten 83.........
Digital desk: A ruthless fifty by Venkatesh Iyer was the spark for Kolkata Knight Riders' easy seven-wicket victory against Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their IPL match at M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday. The Knight Riders overcame the 183-run target set by the RCB, thanks to Venkatesh's 50 of 30 balls (3x4, 4x6) and the brilliant blitzes of openers Sunil Narine (47, 22b, 2x4, 5x6) and Phil Salt (30, 20b, 2x4, 2x6).
The target was built around Virat Kohli's impressive unbeaten 83. As they chased down the target in just 16.5 overs, the KKR hitters were never slowed down by a sluggish pitch or the RCB bowlers.
The way they played last night was best shown by Venkatesh, who is working hard to become relevant again in white-ball formats. He and captain Shreyas Iyer (39 not out) put on 75 runs for the third wicket.
Alzarri Joseph, the pacer, took the brunt of the left-hander's aggressive intentions right away as he established his range. In an over that featured a leg-bye boundary, two sixes over cover and mid-wicket, and a guided four to third man, he biffed the West Indian quick for twenty runs.
Shreyas, who was dismissed on five by Yash Dayal against the very good local pacer Vysakh Vijayakumar (1/23), was merely supporting cast this evening.
However, the KKR should appreciate Narine and Salt for that clean victory, as they dominated the RCB bowlers in the Power Play with incredible power hitting. Narine and Salt combined to add 86 runs in just 6.3 overs as the visitors' chase got underway.
Salt initiated the devastation by hitting Mohammed Siraj, a pacer, for eighteen runs in the opening over while hitting two sixes and a four. Narine did the same. The left-hander wrecked left-arm pacer Dayal's stats by clobbering him for 21 runs in the sixth over, including four and two sixes in three successive balls, after blasting Joseph for two sixes in the third over.
The Chinnaswamy surface did have a hint of sluggishness, but the RCB bowlers made very less attempts to take advantage of it by hitting slower balls than their Knight Riders rivals.
The opening wicket stand was broken by a yorker from left-arm spinner Mayank Dagar when Narine was unable to stop the full-length delivery on the off-stump. But he'd done his bit by then.
Earlier, the RCB's tough 182 for six was built on the skillful unbeaten fifty of Kohli. The home team displayed a two-faced effort on a slower surface as Kohli (83, 59b, 4x4, 4x6) and Cameron Green (33 off 21b) milked 65 runs off 42 balls for the second wicket, the main partnership in RCB innings.
As usual, a classic Dinesh Karthik cameo (20, 8b, 3x6) gave the final RCB total more weight. Faf du Plessis, the captain of the Royal Challengers, left the field early when Mitchell Starc intercepted his effort to scoop pacer Harshit Rana within the circle.
However, there was a brief moment of stability as RCB was able to stay on course thanks to a productive stand by Kohli and Green, which saw them reach 61 for 1 in the Power Play.
In an attempt to get his runs, Kohli used drives, lofts over covers, sweeps, and slog-sweeps, but the highlight of the evening was a swat-flick off Starc that went for a six.
The swat-flick, which is a product of Kohli's quest to discover novel strategies to maintain the dominance of bowlers, is, in reality, the shot that best captures his batting style. With a quick movement of the wrists and force from a powerful bottom hand, this usually mild shot can become a dangerous run-making option.
Except for Green, the other batsmen struggled with timing as Kohli hit his fifty in thirty-six balls. However, since Green's hitting was all about brute power, he wasn't concerned with such technical angles.
Playing in his 500th T20 match, Narine was thoroughly outclassed as Green scored 15 runs off the spinner's opening over, which featured three consecutive fours (4, 4, 6); a sweep, a slap past cover, and a hoick over long-on. But when Green attempted to play a pull-off Andre Russell, the ball crashed against his stumps, ending their blossoming partnership.
As his luck eventually ran out against Narine, Glenn Maxwell, who was dropped twice on 11 and 21 on the way to a 19-ball 28, was unable to take advantage of the glut of KKR fielders.
Rinku Singh caught a slash off the West Indian spinner at deep point, prompting Maxwell to leave the game after he and Kohli had added 42 runs for the third wicket.
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