Kolkata Knight Riders ride their luck

PTI

Kolkata, April 21

Karn Sharma’s last-over assault on Mitchell Starc gave Royal Challengers Bengaluru a glimmer of hope but Kolkata Knight Riders kept their nerves to eke out a dramatic one-run win in their IPL match here today.

The Royal Challengers required 21 runs off the last over bowled by left-arm pacer Starc while chasing a daunting 223-run target set by the Knight Riders. The result seemed a foregone conclusion with Karn and Mohammed Siraj at the crease, but the former nearly turned the match on its head.

Karn, a leg-spinner with no real pedigree with the bat, hammered three sixes off Starc to reduce the margin to three runs off two balls. But Starc redeemed himself by taking a return catch to dismiss Karn (20 off 7 balls) before Lockie Ferguson was run out on the last ball as RCB ended up at 222 all out in 20 overs.

KKR made 222/6 around opener Phil Salt’s aggressive 14-ball 48 and skipper Shreyas Iyer’s composed 36-ball 50. But the Royal Challengers were not bogged down by the imposing nature of their chase. Will Jacks (55 off 32 balls) and Rajat Patidar (52 off 23 balls) laid the foundation with a 102-run alliance for the third wicket that came off just 48 balls.

But from 137/2, RCB slipped to 155/6 with Andre Russell inflicting a double blow and Sunil Narine also claimed two wickets in his final over. Dinesh Karthik kept their hopes alive in a splendid partnership with impact sub Suyash Prabhudesai.

Returning to bowl in the penultimate over, Russell dismissed Karthik with a slower ball. Karn nearly dragged RCB over the line but the Eden Gardens night belonged to the Knight Riders as they aced the final moments of a heart-stopper.

KKR climbed to the second spot with 10 points, two behind leaders Rajasthan Royals. This was RCB’s sixth loss on the trot, and seventh in eight matches, as their campaign is as good as over. — PTI

Kohli loses cool after controversial dismissal

RCB skipper Faf du Plessis expressed his disagreement with the decision to give Virat Kohli out after the latter was caught off a waist-high full-toss by Harshit Rana off his own bowling. The Hawk-Eye system that measures no balls for height came into play when Kohli was dismissed for a seven-ball 18. “It was crazy, rules are rules. Virat and I thought that the ball was higher than the waist. …one team thinks it’s high, the other doesn’t. That’s how the game goes at times,” du Plessis said. Kohli left the field after having an animated discussion with the on-field umpire.

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