Kolkata Knight Riders on Friday became the first team to register an away win in the 2024 season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) by beating RCB by seven wickets at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Batting first, Virat Kohli's flawless 59-ball 83 guided RCB to a182/6. However, Gautam Gambhir-mentored KKR attacked effortlessly from the first ball of their innings and crossed the winning mark with 19 balls to spare. KKR's victory marked the end of a unique record -- the longest winning streak by home teams in the history of the tournament. The contest between the two teams was the 10th game of the season.
After openers Phil Salt (30 from 20) and Sunil Narine (47 from 22) gave them the perfect start, Venkatesh Iyer's 50 from 30 balls ensured KKR managed a comfortable victory. Narine, once again asked to open the innings, smashed five sixes and two boundaries to put the RCB bowlers under pressure. While Iyer blasted four sixes and three boundaries, Salt managed a couple of fours and sixes of his own.
Seamers Alzarri Joseph (Eco 17.00), Yash Dayal (Eco 11.50) and Mohammed Siraj (Eco 15.33) were assaulted the most by the KKR top-three.
In the end, captain Shreyas Iyer (39 off 24) and Rinku Singh (5 off 5) remained unbeaten to finish the game.
Impact player Vyshak Vijay Kumar (4-0-23-1 Eco 5.75), Mayank Dagar (2.5-0-23-1-8.12) and Dayal were RCB's wicket-takers.
Earlier, Virat Kohli's unbeaten fifty formed the foundation of Royal Challengers Bengaluru's competitive total. Kohli (83, 59b, 4x4, 4x6) and Cameron Green (33 off 21b) milked 65 runs off 42 balls for the second wicket, the primary alliance in RCB innings, as the home side produced a two-faced effort after being asked to bat first on a track that was on the slower side.
An archetypal Dinesh Karthik cameo (20, 8b, 3x6) added gravitas to the RCB total as usual towards the end.
The result took KKR to second in the table (4 points from 2 games; NRR +1.047) while RCB slipped to sixth (2 points from 3 games; NRR -0.711).
