Royal Challengers Bangalore cruised to a 38-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders in the first afternoon match of the 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League.
Winning the toss, skipper Virat Kohli chose to bat first considering the record at the Chepauk Stadium so far in the league. RCB started the match with only three overseas players in the playing XI, a risk taken by no other team so far in this IPL season.
Kohli returned to the pavilion in the second over with Rahul Tripathi completing an outstanding catch to dismiss the opposition skipper. Varun Chakravarthy took his second wicket of the over as he clean bowled Rajat Patidar for a meager score of 1 run.
Glenn Maxwell accelerated against Shakib al Hasan and Pat Cummins to help RCB score 33 runs in the last three overs of the powerplay. With Devdutt Padikkal playing the anchor role at the other end, the Australian decided to hit big and ended with a fine innings of 78 runs off 49 balls that included nine boundaries and three maximums.
AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell helped RCB put 204 on the scoreboard
On the other hand, AB de Villiers showed his true genius and smashed 76 runs off just 34 balls staying unbeaten through to the end. The former Proteas skipper scored nine boundaries and three maximums as well with some fans claiming that ABD would have scored a century if he got a couple of more overs on the pitch.
Chasing a mammoth target of 205, KKR started briskly as Shubhman Gill scored 21 runs off 9 balls before getting out to Kyle Jamieson. Rahul Tripathi and Nitish Rana steadied the ship but couldn’t continue the partnership beyond the powerplay as Tripathi was dismissed by Washington Sundar.
Yuzvendra Chahal also took his first wicket of the season as Nitish Rana got out to the leggie while trying to clear the fence in the seventh over. Dinesh Karthik was sent back to the pavilion by Chahal in his next over as KKR’s run-chase went off the rails.
Eoin Morgan, Shakib al Hasan, and Andre Russell tried to put runs on the board but excellent bowling from Harshal Patel stopped the Knight Riders from putting on pressure on the Royal Challengers. The ‘Purple Cap’ holder Patel didn’t even concede a single boundary as he finished his quota of four overs with the figures of 2/17.
Chahal and Jamieson respectively finished with excellent figures of 2/34 and 3/41 as the Knight Riders fell 38 runs short as RCB won their third consecutive match of IPL 2021.
Royal Challengers Bangalore have won the first three matches of an IPL season for the first time in the club’s history and Kohli’s men would be hoping that they have something to show at the end of the season justifying their bright start.