Picture : Twitter / IPL
Royal Challengers Bangalore’s miserable run at the season 12 of the IPL continues. Desperate to end their losing streak the RCB suffered their fifth loss. Losing by 5 wickets in high scoring encounter to Kolkata Knight Riders at Bengaluru.
KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik won the toss and put RCB in. And openers Parthiv Patel and skipper Virat kohli looked determined from the start. Both put on 64 for the first wicket. Parthiv was out for 25. But Kohli looked in sublime form and smashed the ball all around with some stunning shots. It was Kohli at his best .
Kohli looked set for a superb ton but fell for 84 off 49 balls with 9 fours and two sixes. Kohli and De Villiers rolled back years with their breath-taking partnership hitting some majestic shots and superb running between the wickets. The duo put on 108 run stand. De Villiers watchful in the beginning then opened up brilliantly to score 32 ball 63 with five fours and four sixes. RCB were set for massive total.
Aussie Marcus Stoinis who carries a big reputation as power – hitter showed is prowess towards the end with a some power shots scoring a unbeaten 13 ball 28 and helped RCB post a stiff 205/ 3 in their 20 overs.
For KKR the wicket- takers were Sunil Narine 1/ 30 ( 4 overs) , Kuldeep Yadav 1/ 31 ( 4 overs) and Nitish Rana 1/ 22 ( 2 overs)
Given KKR’s batting fire power, it was not impossible to achieve. And KKR got the start they wanted Though Sunil Narine fell for 10, Chris Lynn showed the intent with an aggressive 43 off 31 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes. Robin Uthappa stroked a fluent 25 ball 33. Nitish Rana played aggression and hit a useful 37 . Skipper Dinesh Karthik fell for 19 and the score 153 / 5 in 17 overs .
KKR looked down and out and needed an improbable 53 of 18 balls . Enter Andre Russell. The power man from Jamaica with power shoulders and forearms once again unleashed breath-taking display of power hitting. Russell has been KKR’s X factor and barring the performance against Delhi Capitals he has been unstoppable . He literally tore apart the RCB bowling with a sensational unbeaten 13 ball 48 studded with seven towering sixes and one four . Shubman Gill was not out 3 as KKR romped home by 5 wickets and five balls to spare to stun RCB .
RCB bowlers spinners Yuzvendra Chahal(1/24) and Pawan Negi (2/21) tried their best to control the KKR run flow. But RCB were let down by their wayward and ordinary seam attack. That RCB has the worst bowling attack at death overs was proved yet again. Navdeep Saini , Tim Southee, Mohammed Siraj bowled without any plan and were torn apart by Russell. Even Marcus Stoinis was not spared
Their ordinary bowling was slammed by skipper Kohli who termed the bowling show as unacceptable. The figures of the seam attack told the story and RCB’s misery. Tim Southee 0/ 61 ( 4 overs) Mohammed Siraj 0/ 36 ( 2. 2 overs) , Navdeep Saini 2/ 34 ( 4 0vers) Marcus Stoinis 0/ 28 ( 1. 4 overs)
