IPL 2022: RCB Edge Kolkata In Low Scoring Thriller.

IPL 2022: Royal Challengers prevailed in a low-scoring match to beat Kolkata Knight Riders in the final over to register their first win of the IPL 2022 season.

Put into bat first Kolkata struggled to get going from the onset. Openers Venkatesh Iyer and Ajinkya Rahane were dismissed cheaply and by the end of the powerplay  Nitish Rana was sent back by Akash Deep to leave KKR at 44/3 in the powerplay.

Wanindu Hasaranga then ripped through the rest of the Kolkata batting, Shreyas Iyer gave Wanindu Hasaranga the charge but failed to clear the long on fielder with his big hoick.

Narine, after hitting a four and a six was too foxed by the Sri Lankan spinner.

Two balls later, Sheldon Jackson got a googly that he didn’t read and had his stumps floored.

Andre Russell looked to take KKR to a par score with a quick 25 run knock, but Harshal Patel put an end to that cameo.

Hasaranga finished his spell with another wicket in his fourth over, dismissing Southee as KKR ended with 128 in 20 overs.

Only RCB could have managed to make the meal out of such a easy chase.

Umesh Yadav got Arjun Rawat in the first over to get KKR off to a dream start. Tim Southee came in and dismissed Faf Du Plesis, as the RCB captain knicked one to Rahane at first slip.

Yadav then rocked RCB when he sent back Virat Kohli for a duck leaving the chasers at 17/3.

David Willey and Sherfane Rutherford turned out to be Banglore’s unlikely saviours as they put on a 45 run stand. Given the small chase, both batters played without risks to reduce the deficit and bring their side back in the game.

Sunil Narine broke the stand with Willey’s wicket with the score 62/4 in 11 overs.

Shahbaz Ahmed then played a exciting cameo hitting 2 sixes of a Andre Russell over to swing the momentum in RCB’s favour.

Shahbaz then departed after hitting one more 6 scoring 27 of 20 balls after Varun Chakaravarthy got his wicket.

Narine finished his phenomenal spell of 1 for 12 with a final over that went for just 4 runs in the 17th. That took the equation to 24 off 18 balls.

With Russel having two overs left and Southee one, Iyer opted to give the 18th over to Southee.

Southee produced a double-wicket over – both dismissals coming through exceptional catching effort, first from Sheldon Jackson diving to his right to collect one-handed, an under edge from Rutherford’s bat and then Russell, running back and completing a sharp take to send Wanindu Hasaranga packing.

Shreyas went to Venkatesh Iyer for the penultimate over when RCB needed 17 off 12. Iyer gave away only 6 of the first 5 balls but a last ball boundary by Harshal Patel meant 7 were needed in the final over.

Dinesh Karthik then wrapped up the chase with a six and a four of the first two deliveries to give RCB their first win of the campaign.

Brief scores: 

Kolkata Knight Riders 128 in 18.5 overs (Andre Russell 25; Wanindu Hasaranga 4-20, Akash Deep 3-45) Royal Challengers Bangalore 132/7 in 19.2 overs (Sherfane Rutherford 28, Shahbaz Ahmed 27; Tim Southee 3-20, Umesh Yadav 2-16)