Russell played a whirlwind 45 off 17 balls, studded with five boundaries and three sixes
RCB Skipper Virat Kohli scored a 20-ball 34 to give his team a brisk start. (Photo: R. Samuel)
Bengaluru: The Bengaluru rains turned out to be as unpredictable as a T20 game. With the sun blazing down on the stadium half an hour before the start of play, the rain clouds rolled in just after Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Virat Kohli had won the toss and asked Kolkata Knight Riders to bat.
But rain or not, the Challengers finally broke their home jinx to cruise to their first home victory defeating the defending champions by seven wickets at the M. Chinnaswamy stadium on Saturday.
With the match being curtailed to a ten-over a-side and KKR running up 111 for four, Mandeep Singh played an explosive knock scoring 45 off just 18 balls to power the Challengers to 115 for three. The 23-year-old finished off the match in style hitting Andre Russell for two sixes to seal the match with two balls to spare. His match-winning knock was studded with four fours and three sixes.
The man-of-the match was aptly supported as skipper Virat Kohli had earlier set the chase rolling with a quick-fire 34 off 20 balls. The swashbuckling batsman struck two fours and three sixes to set up the platform for the Challengers.
Chris Gayle and Virat Kohli sent the crowd into a frenzy as they sent the ball out of the park frustrating the Knights’ bowlers. The opening duo put up a rapid-fire 48 off just 23 balls before Gayle (21) was caught by his West Indian counterpart Andre Russell trying to hit Brad Hogg over the ropes. AB de Villiers was quick to follow him back as he was bowled by Piyush Chawla for just two. With the skipper in the middle the Challengers looked to be cruising. But Russell struck with his very second delivery to dismiss Kohli and halt their charge. It didn’t matter as Mandeep came to the party to fetch the team their first home win.
Earlier, Russell played a whirlwind 45 off 17 balls, studded with five boundaries and three sixes to help KKR to a competitive total. The Knights got off to a solid start with openers Robin Uthappa and Gautam Gambhir putting up 33 runs off 23 balls. The duo looked to be settling in before the Knights skipper fell when Mandeep plucked a superb one-handed catch as he tried off David Weise.
Following the skipper’s dismissal, Russell, who came up the order for the reduced overs tie, played a swift knock. The West Indian wasted no time as he brought up the Knights’ 50 in style sending the ball out of the park for the first six of the encounter. The right-hand batsmen picked on Yuzvendra Chahal and Varun Aaron, sending them all over the park.
SCOREBOARD
Kolkata Knight Riders: R. Uthappa c Karthik b Chahal 23, G. Gambhir c Mandeep b Wiese 12, A. Russell (run out) 45, R. ten Doeschate c de Villiers b Starc 12, Y. Pathan (not out) 11, S. Yadav (not out) 0. Extras (lb-3, w-4, nb-1) 8. Total (for four wickets in 10 overs).
FoW: 1-33, 2-71, 3-96, 4-102.
Bowling: Starc 2-0-15-1, Aaron 2-0-29-0, Patel 2-0-22-0, Wiese 2-0-20-1, Chahal 2-0-22-1.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: C. Gayle c Russell b Hogg 21, V. Kohli c Yadav b Russell 34, AB de Villiers b Chawla 2, Mandeep Singh (not out) 45, D. Wiese (not out) 9. Extras (w-4) 4. Total (for three wickets in 9.4 overs) 115.
FoW: 1-48, 2-51, 3-81.
Bowling: Cummins 2-0-18-0, Yadav 2-0-31-0, Hogg 2-0-23-1, Chawla 2-0-21-1, Russell 1.4-0-22-1.
( Source : dc )
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