Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) got the better of Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) by one run in a thrilling last-ball finish in an IPL 2024 match at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday.
With the win, KKR climbed back into the second spot in the IPL 2024 points table with 10 points from seven games as RCB stayed last in the 10-team competition with just two points to their name. The defeat was RCB’s sixth straight of the season and seventh overall.
After RCB skipper Faf du Plessis won the toss and opted to bowl, Virat Kohli walked out to a deafening roar from the crowd and handed his Orange cap to the umpire, seemingly readying himself to bowl the first over. But, it was just a tease as Mohammed Siraj took the new ball.
Yash Dayal struck Sunil Narine on the foot with a darting yorker, in the second over, leaving the KKR star limping in pain. He was struggling for the next few balls before smocking Siraj through the covers for a four to get off the mark.
Lockie Ferguson was introduced into the attack and the former KKR star was smashed all over the park by Salt for 28 runs in the over, which included four fours and two sixes. Siraj, on his third over on the trot, removed Salt caught in the deep for a 14-ball 48.
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Dayal removed Narine next, who fell in the deep to Kohli, for just 15 runs. Venkatesh Iyer hit two back-to-back boundaries after walking in. Angkrish Raghuvanshi tried to make the most of the last ball of the fielding restrictions but was dismissed by Cameron Green, who took a stunning catch.
KKR finished the powerplay with 75 runs but lost their top three batters.
Green took the ball next and sent back Venkatesh to break the Iyer partnership.
Shreyas and Rinku kept the scoreboard ticking despite not taking the risky route as Green and Karn slipped in a few tidy overs for RCB.
The pair put on a 40-run stand for the fifth wicket as Ferguson returned to send back Rinku. The innovative dasher went down on his knee to lift leg-cutter but ended up gifting a sitter to Dayal at short fine-leg.
Andre Russell was in next and got a snorter from Ferguson that he edged behind to the keeper Dinesh Kartik. The umpire looked perplexed but signalled out. Russell reviewed and it showed the ball was clearly over the waist length as the decision was promptly reversed.
Shreyas reached fifty in 35 deliveries as Dayal gave away 23 runs in the penultimate over. The KKR skipper though was gone on the 36th ball as he sliced a full-toss off Green to du Plessis in the deep.
Ramandeep Singh joined Russell for the last leg of the innings as the pair smashed 43 from the last 16 balls to help KKR post 222/6 from their 20 overs.
And then 54,365 fans at the Eden Gardens cheered in unison as Kohli walked out to bat alongside Du Plessis. Kohli smashed Harshit Rana for a four and six in the first over itself.
Rana had the last laugh though as a fuming Kohli (18 off 7) walked off after a controversial dismissal. A high full-toss was adjudged legal delivery by the TV Umpire off which Kohli lobbed a simple catch to Rana before unsuccessfully reviewing it.
Varun Chakaravarthy struck in the following over to send back Du Plessis (7), all thanks to a stunning catch from Venkatesh.
Wil Jacks (55) and Rajat Patidar (52) got together after the fall of the RCB openers and targeted Mitchell Starc, smashing him for 22 runs, to end the powerplay with 74/2.
With spinners performing better, KKR decided to bring in Suyash Sharma as Impact Sub for Rinku.
Will Jacks reached his fifty in 29 deliveries, smacking Chakaravarthy for a four and a six. Patidar, at the other end, took a liking to Suyash as he dispatched two fours and two sixes to help RCB reach 122/2 at the 10-over mark.
Patidar lofted Narine too for two huge sixes as he reached his fifty in just 21 balls.
Russell then stepped up and sent back Jacks with his first ball of the match.
Angkrish with the safe hands at long helped break RCB’s 102-run partnership for the third wicket. Russell struck again three balls later to send back Patidar too, who mishit the ball as Harshit composed himself to take the high catch.
After Green hit Narine for a six through mid-wicket, the veteran spinner got his revenge immediately as he sent back the RCB batter on the very next ball, caught in the same area by Ramandeep.
Narine was not done though as he removed Mahipal Lomror on the last ball of his spell, bamboozling the batter for an easy caught and bowled.
It was up to Impact Sub Suyash Prabhudessai and Dinesh Karthik to get the job done for RCB. The equation quite simple – 49 from the last five overs.
But tight bowling from Harshit and Chakaravarthy meant the asking rate kept creeping up forcing Prabhudessai to go for the big hit and losing his wicket to the former.
DK smacked Russell on the third ball of the penultimate over for a maximum with Angkrish parrying the ball past the boundary while attempting a catch. The fifth ball was creamed through deep backward point for a boundary but Russell got the prized wicket of Karthik with a short ball. The RCB keeper-batter tried to scoop the ball but ended up skiing it as Salt ran over to take the catch comfortably.
With 21 needed off the last over, Shreyas turned to Starc. Karn Sharma dug the first ball for a maximum over deep backward point to keep the contest alive.
Starc seemingly struck on the very next ball as Karn tickled a ball behind as replays showed on the DRS from KKR but the ball wasn’t deemed to have carried to the wicketkeeper.
The third ball was smoked for another six as Karn lofted the ball over sweeper cover and the fourth ball too suffered the same fate.
3 runs off two balls
Karn smashed the fifth ball straight back at the bowler as Starc pulled off a stunning catch mere inches off the ground.
With three runs needed of the last ball, Ferguson got bat to ball and took off. Harshit threw the ball but the throw was wide. Salt collected the throw and leapt towards the wicket to take the bails off un time as RCB were all out for 221.
