The Kolkata Knight Riders cruised to a 6-wicket victory with 5 balls to spare against the Royal Challengers Bangalore, who were forced to play without an in-form AB de Villiers – down with an illness.
RCB, languishing towards the bottom of the table, was desperate for a win. However, their lacklustre performance on the field did them in.
Chris Lynn, who was named Man of the Match, starred with the bat as he scored a well-paced 62 from 52 balls to guide KKR to victory. He was supported by numerous batsmen throughout the innings, allowing him to play the role of an anchor.
After the game, Chris said, “I've had to grind out some runs this season. Definitely got to use the sweep in this part of the world, especially against spin bowling. Whatever scenario comes, I'm going to play it by the ear. The body is getting there ... Been a tough schedule and I'm chipping away.”
He also laughed, “I was about to get rid of it (moustache) yesterday, but decided to keep it.”
Chasing a par score of 176, the opening pair of Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine got KKR off to the start they required. The two put up a well-made 52 runs for the first wicket. When Narine was dismissed for 27, Robin Uthappa came out to the middle and scored a blistering 36 off 21 balls against his home franchise. Finally, Dinesh Karthik came to the crease and looked to play a finishers role as he smashed 23 runs off his first 9 balls, before being dismissed by a spectacular catch in the boundary by Virat Kohli.
Shubman Gill finished off the match with a well-placed cut off the first ball in the last over to give KKR a well-earned victory.
For RCB, skipper Virat Kohli starred again with the bat as he made an unbeaten 68 from 44 balls. This was after a solid foundation had been laid by openers Quinton de Kock and Brendon McCullum, who made 29 from 27 and 38 from 28 respectively. Mandeep Singh played a cameo of 19 off 14 balls, while Colin de Grandhomme finished with 11 off 6 to take RCB to a par total of 175.
Andre Russell, who was celebrating his 30th birthday, was the most successful bowler on the day for KKR as he picked 3 wickets for 31 runs in his 3 overs. Kuldeep Yadav was the most effective bowler. He finished with fantastic figures of 1 for 20 in his 4 overs.
A disappointed Kohli said after the game, “The pitch is bringing out surprises every time we play here. 175 was a really good score, we were thinking of 165 at one stage after those wickets, so 10 was a bonus. If we look back, we didn't deserve to win. I don't think we're trying hard enough, we need to be hard on ourselves. All 11 of us need to come together and bring that excitement on the field. We don't deserve to win if we field like that. We can't afford to field like that and let singles go to boundaries. We were just not good enough tonight. I can't pinpoint anything right now, we need to win six out of seven to qualify from here.”
This victory moves KKR up to the final qualification spot on the table. RCB, on the other hand, are down and almost out after losing 5 of its first 7 games. They are tied for last place along with the Delhi Daredevils and the Mumbai Indians.