Chasing a big target of 223, RCB were cruising at one point through fifties from Will Jacks and Rajat Patidar but Andre Russell removed them in the same over to twist the contest. Andre Russell after a short stint with the bat shone with the ball with regular wickets to stumble RCB’s pursuit of an unlikely win .
Andre Russell for his 3 wickets should be the one Kolkata should be thankful in pulling out the heist as the most expensive buy Mitchell Starc still goes for runs in this league. In yet another high-scoring game this season, Kolkata Knight Riders held their nerve at the end to seal a thrilling one-run win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Eden Gardens on Sunday as Karn Sharma turning out to be unlikely hero for RCB. Andre Russell all round show is a welcome sign for West Indies in the upcoming world event.
Pitch and Toss
One short boundary at 61m, the other side is at 66m, the straight boundary is 73m long. It’s very hot at 43 degrees and the pitch will suffer because of that, it’s very dry. Most of the pitch looks even and flat, but there’s one big chunk where it’s extremely dry, the grass has been removed. It’s around the spinner’s length and they could exploit the patches. Otherwise, this pitch has plenty of runs on offer. With this heat, the captain winning the toss should opt to bat first, reckons Graeme Swann and Sanjay Manjrekar, in their pitch report.
Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper Faf Du Plessis won the toss and chose to field made three changes in their playing XI. Cameron Green replaces Reece Topley, Karn Sharma replaces Vyshak Vijaykumar and Mohammad Siraj comes in place of Shivam Chauhan.
Kolkata Knight Riders skipper Shreyas Iyer batting first made no changes to their playing XI.
KKR blaze away through Salt in the powerplay.
Earlier in the afternoon, it was business as usual for the Knight Riders with the bat after being sent in by Faf du Plessis on a dry-looking surface. For a change, Sunil Narine couldn’t get going as RCB executed their wide line plans and yorkers precisely at him but couldn’t do the same to his partner. Salt unleashed a 14-ball 48 to ensure that KKR got another riveting PowerPlay score to their list.
RCB did beautifully to keep Sunil Narine quiet. While most teams do know not to give him any room, they went a step further, dropped all pretense and tried to bowl nothing but leg-stump yorkers. KKR’s biggest hitter this season needed eight balls to get off the mark. Salt came to his rescue though hitting 10 of the first 13 balls to the boundary and flirting with the fastest fifty of IPL 2024.
He could have had it too but in going for another six – to a ball that was very hittable – he got caught at deep midwicket. Still, 48 off 14 with seven fours and three sixes is nothing to scoff at.
RCB hit back through wickets in the middle overs.
Narine’s scratchy innings was put to an end by Yash Dayal with a deceptive slower ball that got miscued to long-off. Salt then narrowly missed out on his fifty as he holed out to deep mid-wicket and his dismissal was soon followed by Angkrish Raghuvanshi who fell to a blinder of a catch from Cameron Green at mid-wicket. The Australian then struck with the ball a few minutes later to get Venkatesh Iyer on the short ball. From 56/0, KKR slipped to 97/4 in the space of 25 deliveries.
Karn bowled the first boundary-less over in the 10th. Cameron Green was keeping Rinku Singh quiet, their head-to-head for the first six balls yielding three dots and two singles. The Australian had used his height to great effect earlier, leaping up to catch a ball that was 8.1m off the ground and travelling fast, to dismiss Angkrish Raghuvanshi
Shreyas, Rinku rebuild; RCB hang in with regular wickets.
Despite the fall of wickets, the high run rate prevalent allowed Shreyas Iyer and Rinku Singh to play with minimal fuss. They still continued to find the fence, albeit with a tone of restraint in the partnership. Shreyas and Rinku were particularly aggressive against spin, using their feet to clear the ropes. The left-hander fell to Green who once again used a short ball to prize out a wicket. Shreyas did get to his first fifty of the season but he also perished to a lovely diving catch from Du Plessis at long-off.
Cameron Green was digging off-pace deliveries into the pitch and getting them to soar past Rinku’s bat swing. Even with Shreyas Iyer scoring his first IPL fifty since May 2022, RCB had the better of the middle overs (economy rate 8, from 12.5 in the powerplay). Ferguson, who conceded a boundary with every ball of his first over, gave up only one more after that in the next three. He also took a wicket, a skillful use of the knuckle ball which got big on Rinku and took away his power.
Andre Russell and Ramandeep Singh propels KKR to 222 after 20 overs.
Andre Russell had walked in during the 14th over. At the time of the 18th, he was still 11 off 13 with only one hit to the fence, and still, he was toying with the bowlers. Yash Dayal was desperate to keep the ball out of his hitting arc, which forced him to spray one too wide outside off and another too wide outside leg, which also beat the keeper and went for four. To make matters worse, he had overstepped.
Dayal was only trying to do the right thing but it is so hard in this format. A nine-ball 17th over ended with Shreyas pinging the long-on boundary twice and yielding 22 runs. RCB trusted him to close the innings out but that over went for 16. Once again, he did the right things. Went wide yorker, but missed the mark and got hit. Took pace off, but Muscle Andre Russell found a way. Recovered to string two yorkers and a bouncer that cost only three runs but the last ball was cleverly ramped for four by Ramandeep. KKR 222 for 6.
It’s not always that a batter overshadows Andre Russell in finishing an innings off, with the West Indian also present at the crease. But Ramandeep Singh did just that, smashing a nine-ball 24 to propel the total past the 220-run mark at a time when RCB would have fancied to restrict KKR to much lower. Russell also got some runs but was nowhere close to his fluent self.
Technology proves the undoing of Virat Kohli
With such a big total to chase, RCB had no option but to go hard from the get-go. Virat Kohli set the tone with a hook over fine leg against Harshit Rana in the first over. Mitchell Starc also got struck for a six in his first over by Kohli but the promise was cut short in Rana’s second over. A high full toss saw Kohli checking his shot, only to lob it straight up for a return catch. The former RCB captain was adamant on a waist-high no ball but he had stepped out of the crease. The third umpire eventually sided with the bowler and Kohli had to walk off.
Angry Virat Kohli made an appearance after a long time, disputing the technology that gave him out off a full toss that he was certain was over waist high. Faf du Plessis couldn’t stick around for long enough. RCB were in familiar dire straits once again when two of their least heralded players decided to shoot their shot.
Will Jacks ,Rajat Patidar put on a show as RCB marches on to the target
After both RCB openers fell early, the team needed somebody else to stand up. Known for his explosive gameplay at the top of the order, Will Jacks came to the party with Rajat Patidar also joining in. Both were severe on the pacers while Patidar looked equally at ease against spin. Boundaries started to flow, mostly in the form of sixes, and KKR were unable to put a lid on the scoring rate. The pair added 102 off just 48 balls to put the chase in cruise control for RCB.
Will Jacks took down Starc in the final over of the powerplay, hitting him for three sixes and a four. The whole over was symptomatic of the way KKR had bowled to him, pace on and in the slot. A tall batter with a strong front foot game loves it there. So did the RCB fans who were sat down the ground or at midwicket.
At the other end, Rajat Patidar found his rhythm. He has looked short of confidence ever since he was dropped by India during the Tests against England. A batter who relies on feel more than technique was struggling to get it back, until it all came back, and he was sitting pretty with a 21-ball fifty. He scored 16 off 8 off Narine, with two sixes, and 30 off 9 against Suyash Sharma, with three sixes and two fours.
Andre Russell flexes his bowling muscle
Andre Russell often powers his way to breathtaking knocks with the bat but today it was his bowling that gave KKR instant impact. At a time when the home side were struggling to contain the run flow, Andre Russell came in and struck twice in his first over to remove both set batters. The slower balls worked both times as RCB started to lose their way. The twin strikes from Andre Russell started an implosion for the tourists.
RCB were 77% favorites at this point, needing 86 off 54 balls. Then on came Andre Russell for his first over of the night and knocked over both of RCB’s half-centurions. For a guy who wants to look like a UFC fighter, he keeps sucker-punching people. Running in nice and hard. Properly powering through his action. That tree-trunk like shoulder whipping the ball down the pitch. But then the fingers do their magic, and all of a sudden, a batter prepping for 140kph is caught off guard with 115kph.
A target of 280-plus couldn’t dampen Dinesh Karthik’s mood the other night, so he wasn’t going to back down for 223. Unfortunately for him, he lacked support even as he tried to get the game deep. There were a couple of exciting boundaries in his cameo but with 21 needed off seven, he got out.
Karn’s storm and a blockbuster finish as KKR escape to win by 1 run
Karn Sharma can bat is known to all, that he can hit sixes is also not a secret but not many expected him to do what he did in the final over against a bowler of Mitchell Starc’s quality. The Australian strayed in his radar and got deposited for three sixes as the equation came down to three off two balls. The strokes were all jaw-dropping stuff, and there was also a caught behind decision in between that Sharma just about escaped from.
However, Starc had the last laugh as he got Sharma off a sharp return catch. With two needed off the final ball, Starc didn’t miss his yorker and while Rana’s throw from the deep was well off-target, Salt gathered and leapt across the stumps to effect an acrobatic run out.
Starc has not learned that lesson yet. He has found all his success – even here in the IPL when he was wearing the opposition’s colors – by trusting his pace and his accuracy. According to ESPNCricinfo ball-by-ball data, he has attempted a slower ball only 11 times this season. It is part of why he has given up 44 boundaries, the most by any bowler in IPL 2024. The opposition sets up for his thunderbolts, which in India, don’t always kiss the pitch and fly through. They sometimes sit up to be smacked.
However, people under pressure trust what has worked for them in the past and the Starc yorker is still money. He went for it. It came out as a low full toss. Karn, who had already carved three sixes off near yorkers, set up to smash it down the ground. But this time he couldn’t get enough power on it. He could only bunt it and Starc was agile enough to dive to his right and come up with a blinder. That was the decisive play in a game full of them. Pace on for the win. Who knew.
Mitchell Starc had 20 runs to defend and he nearly didn’t. In the course of six balls, he exemplified just how difficult it is to be a bowler in T20 cricket, and how he will always fly in the face of it. Having been hit for three sixes in the final over which reduced the equation down to 3 off 2, he went to his bread and butter.
He went pace on. He went yorker. And he produced a wicket. Karn Sharma, who had brought this game back from the dead, was gone. As soon as the catch was taken – Starc himself diving low to his right in his follow through – RCB knew there were no more miracles.
Ramandeep Singh contrived to give them one. His throw from deep point was poor. It didn’t come in quick enough or straight enough. It left the wicketkeeper with a lot to do. Phil Salt, though, was fine with it. He was alert enough to step forward and shrink the distance the ball had to travel and then agile enough to fling his whole body at the stumps and break it before the No. 11 Lockie Ferguson could make his ground and trigger a Super Over. KKR had won, by one run, and maybe five inches.
Presentations and Road Ahead.
Faf Du Plessis the loosing skipper said : It was crazy, rules are rules, Virat and myself thought that the ball was higher than the waist (on Kohli’s dismissal), I guess they measured from the popping crease, one team thinks it’s high, the other doesn’t. That’s how the game goes at times. Then the partnership, it was magnificent (on the Jacks-Patidar partnership), but when you don’t win too many games, some sort of panic sets in and the Narine over was game-changing.
You don’t feel that you have time to settle down and bat (on the evolution of the IPL this season), the game doesn’t allow it to do that, obviously you have an extra batter, but in chases like these, you have to keep going. The match-up against Narine, I thought that was the game changing over.
The small things, I am actually proud of the boys tonight, the way we bowled and fielded, we did give away a couple of big overs towards the end, but I thought we kept them down to a par score.
We thought we’ll go hard in the batting powerplay, find those boundaries at the start of the innings. We were desperate, 10/10 from an effort perspective, the way we put up the effort in the ground, the faces told the story. We’ve got an unbelievable fanbase, we want to make them happy, we want them to have a smile on their face. We’ll have to continue putting in our efforts and try to change things around.
Shreyas Iyer the winning skipper said : (On close games like these) It takes a lot off your body and drains you out completely because you go through so many emotions. It’s tough to stay calm but I’m elated. We got two points on the board and that’s all that matters.
It’s extremely tough when the pressure is on, I feel that every individual should put their hands up and take the responsibility. Russell did that by picking up two wickets and completely changed the game in our favor, that kind of attitude is needed in the team.
It’s a funny game, when you need 18 runs off 6 balls, the pressure is on the bowler. One six here and there, it completely changes the momentum. It is important that we maintain our calmness and stay in the present and make the batter hit where you want them to hit. We need to stick to our routines and processes and see to it that we execute the things we want. It was a pivotal knock, I wanted to stay till the end and steady the ship.
We were losing wickets and I wanted to stay till the end and see it off. We got some important boundaries towards the end and I was very happy about that.
Andre Russell was Player of the Match for his 3 wickets said : Thanks to the almighty. I always back my bowling as I said earlier. Getting the ball at a crucial time, I knew that I had to come good and thankfully it happened today. Happy for the two points. When I was batting earlier, change of pace was difficult to hit. As a bowler that’s what I wanted to do.
The slower balls were gripping and holding. Was happy to get the two set batters out and I think that’s what changed the game. Those two wickets from Narine were also very important and that’s what started the slide for RCB. When I look at the bowling equation, I had two left and I conditioned myself to bowl that (19th) over. Tried to give Starc as many runs as I could. DK wasn’t getting off strike so I looked at bowling 6 deliveries to him and mix it up, thankfully it worked.
What an absolute thriller we got to witness here! Mitch Starc and KKR hold on to dear life and just about keep RCB at bay to win by 1 run! So much to dissect there. Chasing 223 to win, Kohli got off to a bit of a flier before being dismissed by a loopy full-toss. He was absolutely livid as he walked off and his dismissal was the first of many talking points of the game.
Faf followed soon after but Patidar and Jacks kept RCB going. They ensured that RCB remained on par if not ahead of the asking rate and accelerated swiftly in the middle overs. At the halfway stage, it looked like RCB were well ahead but that’s when things took a drastic turn for the worse. Andre Russell got rid of both set batters in the same over and RCB ended up throwing a couple more wickets away in the next over bowled by Narine.
An absolute roller-coaster of a game. Went one way, the other, then back the other way and you weren’t sure who was going to win it right up until the last ball. RCB gave it their everything today but they’ll look back on that period where they lost 4 wickets in 2 overs. Have to feel for Karn Sharma too, he nearly forged his name into the IPL annals but it just wasn’t to be tonight.
As it always is, joy for one side means heartbreak for the other. KKR were on the wrong side of a last-ball thriller just in their last game so it’ll feel good to win this one. They move up to 2nd place on the table and things are looking bright. Can’t say the same for RCB as they’re firmly rooted to the bottom of the table and it’s going to be a hard way up.
KKR, currently second on the points table, have a four-day break before they take on Punjab Kings in another home game on April 26. RCB, rooted to the bottom of the table with only one win in eight games, face the mighty SRH in Hyderabad on April 25.