Virat Kohli bowled out the innings for Royal Challengers Bengaluru with his second straight half-century in the Indian Premier League on Friday, but Kolkata Knight Riders still cruised to a seven-wicket win. Chasing the home side’s 182-6, Kolkata reached their target with 19 balls to spare when skipper Shreyas Iyer hit an unflappable six off Mayank Dagar. Their chase got off to a roaring start with Phil Salt (30) and all-rounder Sunil Narine (47) putting on 86 for the visitors, drawing praise from Bengaluru captain Faf du Plessis.
After the win, KKR moved up two places in the points table to take the second position. Meanwhile, Rajasthan Royals dropped to third position, while SunRisers Hyderabad also slipped one spot to fourth. Chennai Super Kings remained at the top spot.
However, RCB’s position – 6th – remained unchanged in the points table.
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Narine hit five sixes in his 22-ball knock before Dagar bowled him in the seventh, while Salt followed suit in the next over when he was caught at deep square leg.
Venkatesh Iyer made 50 to maintain the momentum before being caught by Kohli, while Shreyas saw out the innings with his 39.
Kohli scored 83 to make his 50 off 36 balls as he gave a thumbs up to the jubilant home crowd, and his knock made him the tournament’s leading run-scorer since the season started last week.
But due to a lack of capable partners, Bengaluru’s innings remained a one-man show.
Du Plessis was bowled out for eight at the end of the second over when he scooped a stunning delivery from Harshit Rana straight into the arms of Mitchell Starc.
Cameron Green was the next top scorer at 33, but was sent back after, missing a lightning delivery from Andre Russell, he crashed off his back pad into the stumps.
Glenn Maxwell survived two easy catches from Ramandeep Singh and Narine in successive overs.
But Narine got his revenge soon after when he sent a bouncer to Maxwell that was driven to deep point and into the arms of Rinku Singh, who kissed the ball triumphantly.
Maxwell finished with 28 off 19 balls, while Kohli later survived a close run-out when a replay showed his sliding dive had taken him across the crease in time.
Dinesh Karthik made 20 before being bowled out by Salt on the last ball, while Andre Russell took the Kolkata bowlers at 2-29.
(With AFP inputs)
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