Eden Gardens witnessed some magnificent performances from both the sides, as Royal Challengers Bangalore made the cut at end to a well-earned victory. After winning the toss Kolkata Kinght Riders opted to field, and it turned out to be quite a show from the Bangalore batsmen’s. First 2 overs were tidy ones by the hosts but from the third over Pathiv Patel (11 out, 11b; 2X4) started smashing boundaries, but Narine soon stopped the show, by dismissing Patel in the 4th over, Nitish Rana fumbling at the boundary line, but in the end taking the catch. Skipper Kohli takes charge of the situation with another boundary to finish the over, RCB at 26-1 after 4 overs. At the start of the 6th over Pradish Krishna was hit for a maximum by Akashdeep Nath, and ending the powerplay with 42 runs on board for 1 wicket. Virat Kohli and Aksahdeep Nath put a 41 runs stand until in the 9th over, Andre Russell scalps the wicket of Akashdeep Nath (13 out; 15b; 1X6), as he edged the ball trying go big, and Robin Uthhappa the snatching the catch from Andre Russell, Bangalore 59-2 after 9 overs. However, the partnership Moeen Ali and Virat Kohli turned out to be a dangerous one, as both of started hitting, boundaries and maximums in almost every over. The duo completed 50 runs for each for themselves in the 15th and 16th over, by then Royal Challengers Bangalore were 149, but Moee Ali (66 out; 28b; 5X4, 6X6) departs, in the last ball of 16th over, mistiming a ball by Kuldeep Yadav, and Pradish Krishna taking the catch. After Ali’s wicket, Virat Kohli (100 out; 58b; 9X4, 4X6) seemed unstoppable taking Royal Challing Bangalore to a final score of 213, completing his century off just 58 balls, but getting out at the last ball of the 1st innings.
Kolkata Knight Riders did not get the start they would have wanted, with Chris Lynn (1 out; 2b) getting out in the very 1st over. From the next over though, Sunil Narine (18 out; 16b; 4X4) started going after boundaries. But his glory was short lived as in the 4th over he edged a ball, trying to go big, and Parthiv Patel stepping a few step back, takes a simple catch, Kolkata Knight Riders at 25-2 after, 4 overs. Dale Steyn dismisses Subhmann gill (9 out; 11b; 1X4) in the next over, Virat Kohli taking the catch at mid-off while running backwards, as Kolkata struggled to stick on the crease, let alone hit boundaries. With a mammoth total to chase, losing early wickets Kolkata Knight Riders were already under pressure. Nitish Rana kept on going with occasional boundaries, and Robin Uthhapa taking the singles. In the 10th over Kolkata brings up 50 on board with both the batsmen hitting boundaries, but Robin Uthhapa (9 out; 20b; 1X4) departed in 12th over by Marcus Stoinis, KKR at 81-4 after 12 overs. As Andre Russell walked up to the crease, everyone was hoping for another show from the big man, and he was not the only one delivered it to the onlookers, Nitish Rana also joined the party. Both the batsmen fired shots, mostly dealing in sixes to shorten the gap between the target and score on board. We have seen Russell hitting consecutive sixes before, but Nitish Rana doing the same was a pleasure to watch. From 79 to 190, 111 runs were fired by the two batsmen in 42 balls, leaving just 24 runs to chase more from the last over. In the last over Moeen Ali stole the show, as he produced 2 dot balls of the 1st 2 balls, as Russell hits the 3rd one for a six and in the 4th one Andre Russell (65 out; 25b; 2X4, 9X6) couldn’t hit it for a six and went for a single instead and gets run out. Nitish Rana (85 not out; 46, 9X4, 5X6) hits the last ball for a six, falling 10 runs short from victory.
