Switch between Hindi and English commentary from here
COMMENTARY NOT AVAILABLE
The commentary is not available for this match. Please check the scorecard for latest updates.
We now conclude our coverage of the Indian Premier League for the day, leaving behind some amusing reactions from the people on social media to some of the more significant events from the game today. IPL action will be back again in the evening tomorrow - the Lucknow Super Giants host the Punjab Kings at the Ekana. Join us right here on Sportskeeda for our coverage of the same, and as always, a whole lot more! This is Rajarshi Das, signing off on behalf of Pratyush Rohra. Good night - see you tomorrow!
A Sunil Narine special, backed by a masterful middle-over onslaught from Venkatesh Iyer was enough to outdo Virat Kohli's efforts from earlier in the evening today. Kolkata Knight Riders triumph over the Royal Challengers Bengaluru yet again - this was their 20th win over the 2009, 2011 and 2016 IPL finalists. A game to savour for the ardent fans of the franchise from the City of Joy - the Kolkata Knight Riders are making some statement early in the tournament, and most of it is down to their veteran stalwarts Andre Russell and Sunil Narine!
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru outfit were on a high having clinched a close contest against the Punjab Kings on home soil, but the issues with their bowling department remain, and so do their middle order woes. They need to find a solution to it - preferably before their next assignment - a home game against the Lucknow Super Giants next Tuesday. The Kolkata Knight Riders have another long break to enjoy - the mood within their camp will be upbeat as they travel to Vizag for a contest against the Delhi Capitals on Wednesday.
Sunil Narine has been adjudged the Player Of The Match! Here's what he has to say: (On 50 T20s) It's a nice milestone, being able to perform like this in the game is great and relieving. Just the self-belief and encouragement from the support staff has helped. A little bit of hard work in the backroom, and I think it's helping a bit. The powerplay over was the hardest to bowl, so you just have to let that go and come back in the middle as strongly as possible, trying to utilize anything you can from this ground. The players have full freedom to enjoy their cricket.
Shreyas Iyer, Kolkata Knight Riders captain: In between these two games, we felt like we've already played 7-8 games! Coming here, getting those two sessions of practice helped us get in shape. Coming in, hitting few balls made us comfortable from within. The way Russell came in and realized the wicket wasn't giving much to the bowlers, analyzing the slower ones being the best option, the way he executed them on the spot was pleasing to the eye. From then on, the rest of the bowlers picked up. We were spot on with that, and the communication was brilliant. When Sunil Narine comes in with bat in hand, he knows he has one job - to clear the outfield and get as many as possible. We were contemplating whether to start with him or not, but today, he played some fantastic shots. A few mishits went into the stands. He'll feel confident with these starts. From one end, it was good to bat on, bit double-paced from the other. The ball was nipping and gripping, bouncing a bit extra as well. Pretty much everyone was aware of the nature of the wicket. We'll be spending one day in Bangalore now and the day after we'll be travelling to Vizag, see the nature of the wicket as well and assess the conditions. I'm not expecting much at this point of time, it's the start of the tournament and we have two wins in the bag. We just want to stay in the present as much as possible, embrace the performances and enjoy each other's success.
Venkatesh Iyer (Kolkata Knight Riders): [His back] It's just a little jacked up, I'll have to go and get it scanned. Let's see. To be honest, the pitch got better for batting as the game progressed. The ball was coming nicely onto the bat and credit goes to Narine with the way he started the innings. We just had to carry on and finish the formalities. When you go in, you have to capitalize on the momentum set. My fiance is here, I would like to credit this innings to her. [Toughest bowlers to face] I think Vyshak bowled really well. He understood and assessed the pitch really well, so it was a little tough to face him. Even when we bowled the quick deliveries, we were taken to the cleaners. So as a batter, it was important to wait for those loose deliveries and make them count.
Faf du Plessis (Royal Challengers Bangalore captain): [Was it a par score?] It's strange, we felt that the wicket was two-paced in the first innings. We thought it was a decent score but a little dew came in. Probably a little under par but looking at the first innings, we played well but didn't finish the innings. Virat was struggling to get going towards the end as the pitch got more difficult to bat on. You can always try one or two things once the game is over but they (KKR) batted well and took the game away. It's always a little tricky with the matchups against Salt and Narine, and the left-hand right-hand combination. They were excellent and really broke the game in the powerplay. [Short of spin options?] We had spinning options with Maxi but at night, there wasn't too much spin on this surface. When Venky was playing against the left-arm spinner, it was easy for him to take them on. [Vyshak] He got an opportunity in this game. We thought about bringing in Karn Sharma during the break but we went with Vyshak because he can bowl the slower ball. He was the best bowler this evening with his mix-up and in terms of his skillset.
Match summary:
Kolkata Knight Riders win by 7 wickets with 19 balls to spare
Venkatesh Iyer 50(30) | Andre Russell 2/29 (4) Virat Kohli 83*(59) | Vijaykumar Vyshak 1/23 (4)
An immensely dominant display on away soil from the purple and gold outfit tonight! The Kolkata Knight Riders, with the help of their opening duo of Sunil Narine and Philip Salt, made it a cakewalk for the rest of their batters with a brutal display of ball-striking in the powerplay, piling up a total of 85 in the first six. Any chance of a comeback for RCB was then killed by Ventakesh Iyer, who picked up from where Narine left off.
On a night where off-pace deliveries were the key to success, the RCB pacers, barring Vyshak, went quick and onto the surface to both KKR openers, trying and failing to land those blockhole deliveries as well. Narine and Salt absolutely feasted on some ordinary bowling - the ball kept flying all around the Chinnaswamy. The silence became more and more deafening as KKR shifted onto the driver's seat early in the piece itself.
It was the yorker from Mayank Dagar - the left-arm spinner - that helped the hosts break the opening stand. There was a glimmer of hope for RCB once Salt holed out to Green behind square the next over, but a Venkatesh Iyer special extinguished any such hope. Alzarri Joseph went for 20 in his second over - he tried to beat Venkatesh Iyer for pace and dug it on a short of length, and that proved to be his undoing.
It was a matter of formalities after that. Venkatesh Iyer completed a half-century, and while he was unable to apply the closing touches, his namesake and skipper did it. Shreyas Iyer, who was content on playing second fiddle all along, thumped a half-tracker over mid-wicket off Dagar to make it two wins in two for the Kolkata Knight Riders. Presentations coming up in a bit...
The streak of home wins has been put an end to by a rampant display of batting from the Kolkata Knight Riders. The Chinnaswamy stadium remains a happy hunting ground for them - KKR's theme song blares in the background as the crowd begin making their way out.
16.5 Mayank Dagar to Shreyas Iyer, SIX! KKR make it two wins in two games. They've now won their last six games in Bengaluru, tormenting the hosts as the team on purple and gold steamroll to another victory. It was a half-tracker, Shreyas moved inside the line and helped this along the way to clear the square leg boundary. KKR win by 7 wickets and 19 balls remaining.
16.4 Mayank Dagar to Rinku Singh, pitched up around the off-stump. Rinku lofts it towards long-off as his side inch closer to the target
16.3 Mayank Dagar to Rinku Singh, a tad short outside the off-stump. Rinku hangs back and steers it to backward point, no run
16.2 Mayank Dagar to Rinku Singh, darts it in full and straight. Rinku clips it to the left of long-on and hustles back for the second run
16.1 Mayank Dagar to Shreyas Iyer, into the pitch at the off-stump. Shreyas punches it to long-off. One big hit will win it for KKR now
Mayank Dagar (2-0-13-1) is back into the attack
Just the 7 runs needed for the Kolkata Knight Riders to land the first away win in this year's IPL. The message from them was very, very clear, right from the start...
16
overs
176/3score
W
1
1
1wd
1
4
1
runs
Shreyas Iyer*
32(22)
Rinku Singh
2(2)
Yash Dayal
1/46
15.6 Yash Dayal to Shreyas Iyer, back of the hand slower ball. Shreyas eases it towards long-on for a single
Bit unusual, that from Kohli - we see him fight to save every possible run, but there was no slide from him even as he chased the ball down.
Sign in with Google
Continue with Facebook
Mobile
Email
Video
;'/></svg>)
F du Plessis
;'/></svg>){kind=small}
Shreyas Iyer
*
Yash Dayal
M.Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
