Virat Kohli’s fifty goes in vain as Kolkata Knight Riders ease past RCB

Bengaluru, March 29

A ruthless fifty by Venkatesh Iyer worked as the catalyst for Kolkata Knight Riders’ smooth seven-wicket victory over Royal Challengers Bengaluru in their IPL match here today.

Venkatesh’s 50 off 30 balls, with three fours and four sixes, and stunning blitzes by openers Sunil Narine (47 off 22 balls, with two fours and five sixes) and Phil Salt (30 off 20 balls, with two fours and two sixes) propelled the Knight Riders past the 183-run target that RCB set for them, which was built around Virat Kohli’s unbeaten 83.

In a welcome sight after the match, Kohli and KKR mentor Gautam Gambhir, who have not been the best of friends, were seen hugging each other.

The KKR batters never got bogged down either by a slow pitch or RCB’s bowlers as they hunted down the target in just 16.5 overs.

Their approach on the night was best exemplified by Venkatesh, who is trying hard to regain his relevance in white-ball formats, as the left-handed batter added 75 runs for the third wicket with skipper Shreyas Iyer (39 not out).

Venkatesh found his range from the word go as pacer Alzarri Joseph suffered the brunt of his aggressive intentions.

He biffed the West Indian quick for 20 runs in an over that contained two sixes over cover and mid-wicket and a steered four to third man besides a leg-bye boundary.

Shreyas, who was dropped on five by Yash Dayal off local pacer Vysakh Vijayakumar (1/23), just had the supporting role on the night.

“Not expecting much. Season has just started and we have just two wins so far. We need to embrace this and enjoy each other’s success,” Shreyas said at the post-match presentation.

The visitors’ chase began frenetically as Narine and Salt added 86 runs in just 6.3 overs through an array of dazzling shots.

“Great to perform like this. Relief also to get it after a while,” Player of the Match Narine, who was appearing in his 500th T20 match, said.

Asked about his exploits with the bat, Narine said, “Just self-belief and the support staff giving encouragement. A little bit of hard work and it is helping. It helps when you win. Confidence is coming from the support staff.”

Earlier, Kohli’s skilful fifty formed the foundation of RCB’s competitive 182/6.

Kohli (83 off 59 balls, with four fours and four sixes) and Cameron Green (33 off 21 balls) milked 65 runs off 42 balls for the second wicket, the primary alliance in RCB’s innings.

Brief scores: Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 182/6 (Kohi 83*, Green 33; Russell 2/29, Harshit 2/39); Kolkata Knight Riders: 186/3 in 16.5 overs (Venkatesh 50, Narine 47, Shreyas 39*; Vyshak 1/23).