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Royal Challengers Bangalore have started the tournament on a dream note. They powered to their third consecutive win by outplaying Kolkata Knight Riders in the first day match on a hot humid conditions in Chennai by 38 runs .
RCB skipper Virat Kohli won the toss and decided to bat first. The team was rocked early as Skipper Kohli was out to a brilliant out- field catch by Rahul Tripathi for 5. Rajat Patidar out for 1. But Devdutt Padikkal (25) stitched a partnership with Glenn Maxwell . Maxwell was imperious from the start and his brilliant counter attack took the game away from Kolkata Knight Riders. Maxwell was explosive in his brilliant 78 off 49 balls with 9 fours and three sixes. If Maxwell put RCB back on track for a big total then A B de Villiers delivered the counter punch with blistering finish towards the end and remained unbeaten with a masterclass 76 off 34 balls with 9 fours and three sixes . From 9/2 RCB posted an impressive 204/4 in their 20 overs .
KKR skipper Eoin Morgan’s tactics too surprised many Varun Chakravarthy who two wickets of – Virat Kohli and Rajat Patidar was removed after one over and replaced by Shakib Al Hasan . This allowed Maxwell to settle down and put RCB back on track . This was a critical error on the part of Morgan.
KKR bowlers were smashed all over by Maxwell and ABD. Harbhajan Singh 1/38 ( 4 overs), Varun Chakravarthy 2/39 ( 4 overs), Shakib Al Hasan 2/24 ( 2 overs) , Pat Cummins 1/34 ( 4 overs) , Prasidh Krishna 1/31 ( 4 overs), Andre Russell 0/38 ( 2 overs)
In reply KKR got off to a flyer . Shubman Gill scored 21 off 9 before he was caught brilliantly by Dan Christian. But KKR batting once again let them down . The big scores never came from their top order. Nitish Rana (18), Rahul Tripathi ( 25 ), Skipper Eoin Morgan ( 29), Dinesh Karthik ( 2), Shakib Al Hasan ( 26) , Andre Russell ( 31) . KKR could score 168/ 8 in their 20 overs .
RCB bowlers took regular wickets to halt the KKR batting line-up. Mohammed Siraj0 /17 (3 overs) , Kyle Jamieson 3/41 ( 4 overs), Yuzvendra Chahal 2/34 ( 4 overs), Washington Sundar 1/ 33 ( 4 overs), Glenn Maxwell0/24 ( 2 overs), Harshal Patel 2/17 ( 4 overs)
RCB appears to be much settled unit this time around with all bases covered . This is the first time RCB has won their first three matches in IPL. For KKR their batting has been a worrying point . They threw away the match against Mumbai Indians and that loss might haunt them in this tournament if they do not get back to winning ways soon .
