A ruthless fifty by Venkatesh Iyer and a sensational opening partnership between Sunil Narine and Phil Salt worked as the catalyst for Kolkata Knight Riders' smooth seven-wicket victory over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their IPL match on Friday.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) made a joke out of a target of 183 set for them by Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the Chinnaswamy Stadium, chasing the target down with seven wickets and 19 balls to spare.
Openers Sunil Narine and Phil Salt then came in and upended whatever advantage Royal Challengers Bengaluru had. The pair smashed 85 runs in the powerplay alone, with Sunil Narine eventually falling for 47 off 22 balls. Phil Salt also fell for 30 off 20.
After which Venkatesh Iyer and Shreyas Iyer took over. Venkatesh returned to form with a 30-ball 50 and Shreyas Iyer hit the winning runs with a six, finishing unbeaten on 39 off 24 balls.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru captain Faf du Plessis fell early but the hosts managed to get off to a strong start largely thanks to Kohli. He, along with Cameron Green, ensured that Royal Challengers Bengaluru scored 61 runs in the powerplay. The partnership between the two ended on 65 off 42 balls when Green fell to Andre Russell on 31 off 21.
Virat Kohli batted through the innings and stayed unbeaten on 83 off 59 as Royal Challengers Bengaluru put up a target of 183 for Kolkata Knight Riders to chase.
Harshit Rana and Andre Russell then led the way as Kolkata Knight Riders managed to largely restrict Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the death overs. They hit 16 runs off the last over from Mitchell Starc and Virat Kohli stayed unbeaten on 83 off 59. Dinesh Karthik hit 20 runs in eight balls and was run out of the last ball and Royal Challengers Bengaluru's innings ended on a score of 182/6.
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