Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine were in incredible form with the bat to power Kolkata Knight Riders to an impressive win over Royal Challengers Bangalore on Sunday. With this six wickets win, they have moved to second place in the IPL 2017 table as well.
Chasing 159 runs to win, Lynn and Narine hit RCB bowlers all around the park in the first six overs. They scored above 100 runs in the Powerplay, and from there on, it was all easy for the visitors, who reached the target quickly with more than four overs to spare.
RCB, who were asked to bat first, got off to the worst possible start, losing the wicket of Chris Gayle in the first ball of the match. Things never really looked good for them, as Virat Kohli was also out in the third over.
With two big names back in the dug out, AB De Villiers was under pressure to deliver, but the South African maestro also could not do much with the bat. After scoring just 10 runs, ABD was dismissed as well. The story of RCB this season has been the same, losing big players in the Powerplay.
Mandeep Singh (52, 43b, 4x4, 1x6) and Travis Head (74, 47b, 3x4, 5x6) tried to rebuild their innings, and formed a decent partnership, but they were not taking much risks. Run-scoring was difficult, but the Indo-Australian pair completed their 50-run partnership in the 13th over.
As soon as RCB completed their 100 runs on the board, there was slight drizzle, which must have disappointed the home team. Mandeep and Head were going on at a decent rate, but when the game restarted, the Indian was out after RCB just added five runs on the board.
However, with the help of Head's half-century, RCB managed to score a respectable 158 runs. Head finished off the innings with two sixes and four, which must have given RCB hope of emerging victorious.
KKR, after a good first innings, started their run chase in an amazing fashion with Lynn and Narine going berserk. The duo looked in great form, dealing in boundaries only, scoring runs at will.
It was Lynn, who started the carnage with some lusty hitting. He hit two fours and one six in the first over, and the stage was set for the two to go all out. Narine also joined in as they completed their 50 in the fourth over of the second innings, which also witnessed Samuel Badreee hit for three straight sixes as well.
The West Indian was striking the ball clean, and skipper Kohli was helpless against the onslaught of Lynn and Narine, who hit the fastest half century of IPL 2017, from 15 balls. It was just incredible batting.
Lynn was also taking the attack to the opposition as well. The Australian also hit the last ball of their Powerplay for a six and managed to score 105 runs from the first six overs. It was only for the second time that any IPL team had scored above 100 runs in the Powerplay.
After such a start, KKR had the game in their bag, though Narine (54, 17b, 6x4, 4x6) was out the first ball after the Powerplay. Lynn (50, 22b, 5x4, 4x6) also completed his fifty in the eighth over of the match, but was sent back to the dugout after his milestone.
KKR were not able to score briskly, after the duo were dismissed, but then, there was no need of it too. After losing the wicket of Colin de Grandhomme and Gautam Gambhir, KKR reached the target in the 16th over of the match.
Match scorecard
Toss: KKR won the toss and chose to field.
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 158/6 all out in 20 overs
Kolkata Knight Riders: 159/4 in 15.1 overs
Result: KKR won by six wickets
Bowling: Kolkata Knight Riders: Umesh Yadav 4-0-36-3, Chris Woakes 4-0-39-1; Sunil Narine 4-0-29-2; Aniket Rajpoot 4-0-25-0; Piyush Chawla 2-0-13-0, Colin de Grandhomme 2-0-15-0
Royal Challengers Bangalore:Aniket Choudhary 2.1-1-19-1, Samuel Badree 3-0-40-0, Yuzvendra Chahal 4-0-39-1, Sreenath Arvind 1-0-26-0, Pawan Negi 3.1-0-21-2; Travis Head3.1-0-9-1.
Fall of wickets: Royal Challengers Bangalore:1-0 Gayle (0.1 over), 2-20 Kohli (2.5 overs), 3-34 de Villiers (4.4 overs) 4-105, Mandeep (15.1 overs), 5-125 Jadhav (18.1.2 overs), 6-142 Negi (19.3 overs)
Kolkata Knight Riders:1-105 Narine (6.1 overs), 2-107 Lynn (7.3 overs), 3-152, De Grandhomme (13.2 overs), 4-156, Gambhir, (14.1 overs)
