Match Details
Narine got a few away while Sam Billings also looked in good touch but neither of them could take the innings deep with both falling in quick succession of Hasaranga. He was all over KKR at that moment and dismissed Sheldon Jackson's very first ball with a brilliant googly. Andre Russell struck three massive sixes but was dismissed by Harshal Patel as the pressure of not scoring runs mounted. Harshal bowled two maidens on a trot to begin with a wicket each in two overs.
It was No 10 Umesh Yadav and No 11 Varun Chakravarthy who took KKR to some sort of stability getting their side to 129. Both struck important boundaries and took crucial singles to take KKR to some respectability. The bowlers fought hard but in the end, RCB held their nerves and went on to win by 3 wickets.
Virat Kohli fell soon after as Umesh Yadav shaped one away from a length outside off and Kohlin ended up nicking that to Sheldon Jackson. From there on it was Sherfane Rutherford and David Willey who stabilised the innings with some sensible batting. They both rotated the strike along and despite not striking too many boundaries, they managed to control the game in the middle overs.
It was Sunil Narine who bagged the prized wicket of David Willey when he chipped one top spinner which stopped on the surface straight to the midwicket fielder. It was sensible batting from Rutherford while Shahbaz Ahmed who was promoted up the order ahead of Dinesh Karthik took charge of the big shots. He clobbered Andre Russell for a couple of sixes to bring the equation down and then smoked Varun Chakravarthy for a six in the 16th over to take the game deep.
However, he was dismissed in the very next delivery with RCB needing 28 of the last 4 overs. Sunil Narine bowled the 17th over and conceded just 5 runs but the match turned on it’s head in the Tim Southee over where he bagged 2 wickets to put KKR in a good position.
With 17 needed of 2 overs, it was Venkatesh Iyer who was given the ball and he bowled well but conceded two boundaries to make it seven from the final over. Dinesh Karthik survived a run-out chance and from there on it was RCB in the final over.
Karthik smoked Russell for a maximum and a boundary to seal the deal for RCB. They get off the mark in the tournament and will look to win a few more on a trot after this hard-fought victory.