IPL: Jason Roy finds joy for KKR, ends losing run

Jaipur, April 26

Jason Roy’s explosive fifty and the spinners’ stifling bowling helped Kolkata Knight Riders snap their four-match losing streak with a 21-run win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL here today.

The English opener led the show with a 29-ball 56 as the KKR batters fired in unison to score 200/5 after RCB captain Virat Kohli opted to bowl. KKR captain Nitish Rana (48 off 21) and Venkatesh Iyer (31) were dropped early in their knocks and made RCB pay with crucial knocks.

The spin duo of Varun Chakravarthy (3/24) and Suyash Sharma (2/30) then blew away the RCB top-order. Kohli struck a 34-ball 54 and kept their hopes up in the run chase after Faf Du Plessis (17) and Glenn Maxwell (5) fell cheaply. But Andre Russell (2/29) broke Kohli’s resistance to restrict RCB to 179/8

“We handed over the game to them. We deserved to lose,” Kohli said. “We weren’t professional enough. We bowled well but fielding was not up to standard. We dropped two chances that cost us 25-30 runs. When batting, we set us ourselves up very well, but then four-five soft dismissals. We need to stay switched on and not give away soft plays,” he added.

The win took KKR up to the seventh spot, while RCB remained fifth.

Brief scores: KKR: 200/5 (Roy 56, Rana 48; Hasaranga 2/24, Vyshak 2/41); RCB: 179/8 (Kohli 54, Lomror 34, Chakravarthy 3/27, Russell 2/29).