Tags: Indian T20 League 2023,
Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders, 36th Match at Bengaluru, Apr 26, 2023,
Bangalore XI,
Kolkata XI
Published on: Apr 26, 2023
Scorecard
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Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 21 runs in match number 36 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru on Wednesday, April 26. Batting first after losing the toss, KKR put up 200/5 in their 20 overs. RCB were restricted to 179/8 in response.
For KKR, Jason Roy was outstanding again, hammering 56 off 29 balls. He struck four fours and five sixes, featuring in an opening stand of 83 with N Jagadeesan (27 off 29). The partnership was broken when Vijaykumar Vyshak had Jagadeesan caught on the pull. He then cleaned up Roy in the same over as the KKR opener exposed his stumps.
Venkatesh Iyer (31 off 26) and skipper Nitish Rana (48 off 21) added 80 runs for the third wicket to continue the good work. Rana was dropped twice by RCB and made the opposition pay. He smashed three fours and four sixes in his swashbuckling knock. Rinku Singh (18 not out off 10) and David Wiese (12 not out off 3) played good cameos to lift KKR to 200. For RCB, Wanindu Hasaranga stood out with figures of 2/24.
Chasing 201, Virat Kohli scored 54 off 37 balls, but the knock went in vain as he did not get much support from others. Faf du Plessis (17 off 7) mistimed a lofted hit off Suyash Sharma, who also trapped Shahbaz Ahmed (2) lbw. Varun Chakravarthy (3/27) then dismissed Glenn Maxwell for 5 inside the powerplay.
Kohli and Mahipal Lomror (34 off 18) added a brisk 55 for the fourth wicket. The stand ended when Lomror toe-ended a big hit off Chakravarthy’s bowling. Kohli then fell to Andre Russell, pulling the pacer only for Venkatesh Iyer to take a brilliant catch in the deep. Dinesh Karthik scored 22 off 18, but the chase fizzled out as KKR ended their losing streak.
Speaking after winning the Player of the Match, leg-spinner Varun Chakravarthy said, “Last match I went for 49 and this match I did well. That’s how crazy life is. [I am] more focused on accuracy rather than more variations. I didn’t want to add more variations. I have been working a lot and I’d like to credit AC Pratheepan – he’s been working for me and even Abhishek Nayar. I’d like to thank them.”
On bowling the difficult overs, he added, I like that challenge and Nitish is giving the ball whenever he wants me to do the job, I am liking it. I’d like to credit this to my newborn son, still not able to see him, I’d like to dedicate it to him and my wife.”
–By A Cricket Correspondent