KKR with complete “allround” performance.

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After opening their account with two one-man shows “W”s, KKR suffered a flurry of losses before finally pulling off a complete team effort to defeat the Royal Challengers Bangalore comprehensively at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Wednesday, April 26. The win kept RCB at their fifth spot but KKR rose from No. 8 to No.7 on the points table, signifying a comeback of sorts for the visitors.

It was a quiet start, owing to a recent purple cap holder bowling at you, and Mohammed Siraj was duly respected with 13 runs off two powerplay overs. The fourth over, bowled by David Willey, however, was taken for 17 by Jason Roy, who had taken a liking to his England teammate. An effortless flicked six later, he played out an over from Hasaranga with a few scares and DRS calls, but Shahbaz Ahmed’s next over read 1.6.6.6.0.6. 25 runs to end the powerplay, meant that Jason Roy had picked his targets, without the need to attack the in-form bowlers. Kohli’s gamble to give Ahmed a powerplay over hadn’t quite worked out. Jason Roy had taken off, nearly getting to a half-century in the powerplay, getting KKR off to a flier.

RCB stage recovery after powerplay disaster

After a disastrous powerplay, RCB suddenly tightened things up, with Vyshak picking up Jagadeesan first, and then knocking over an imperious-looking Jason Roy, bringing two new batsmen to the crease. Nitish Rana and Venkatesh Iyer led the recovery, and maintained a good run-rate to set up for the death overs, but it still remains below 9, projecting a score of 180. The recovery had been handled, but the acceleration didn’t seem to come for alarmingly long, and with only two wickets down and Andre Russell restless in the dugout, KKR seemed to be losing their shot at capitalising on Jason Roy’s start. 200 — it had to be the bare minimum to defend at the Chinnaswamy! Two dropped catches, Siraj off Vyshak and Harshal off Siraj (both of Nitish Rana), didn’t help but KKR’s chance to post 200 looked like a far cry.

The Rana impetus, the Rinku-Wiese surge

It all looked a little dull when, despite losing only two wickets, Rana and Iyer were struggling for timing. However, Rana, who was dropped twice, launched an assault on the bowlers, creaming the 16th over from Harshal for 19, and the 17th over from Vyshak for 17. Both Rana and Iyer departed in the next over, a fabulous one by Hasaranga that only leaked three runs. However, despite the wicket of Russell (yorked by Siraj), Rinku Singh and David Wiese dealt lusty blows at the death to smash 15 runs off each of the last two overs, getting KKR to an even 200, breaking the psychological barrier for the bowlers.

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