Dinesh Karthik (14 not out) and Harshal Patel (10 not out) guided RCB to a three-wicket victory over KKR in a low-scoring IPL 2022 thriller on Wednesday.
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Dinesh Karthik (14 not out) and Harshal Patel (10 not out) held the fort to guide Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to a thrilling three-wicket victory as they combined to score 132/7 with four balls to spare against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in a low-scoring IPL 2022 contest on Wednesday.
Chasing a paltry target of 129 runs, RCB top-order — Faf du Plessis (5), Anuj Rawat (0), Virat Kohli (12), David Willey (18) — failed to show much resistance in the chase.
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However, incoming batters Sherfane Rutherford (28) and Shahbaz Ahmed (27), played key roles to keep RCB ahead in the chase.
Rutherford took an interesting approach as he never looked eager to take risks in a 40-ball stay which was laced with a boundary and one hit over the top. Ahmed, meanwhile, was the aggressor as he hit three sixes in his 20-ball cameo.
However, veteran wicket-keeper batter Karthik, used his experience to his fore as he rotated strike initially before taking charge of the innings and was well complimented by Patel who smashed two sixes and four boundaries in his unbeaten knock.
Their unbeaten stand of 21 runs proved to be decisive for RCB.
For KKR, Kiwi quick Tim Soutee, was the pick of their bowlers as he returned figures of three for 20.
Earlier, RCB leg spinner Wanindu Hasaranga picked up a four-wicket haul to bundle out KKR to paltry 128 runs.
Asked to bat, the KKR top and middle-order batters — Ajinkya Rahane (9), Venkatesh Iyer (10), Shreyas Iyer (13), Nitish Rana (10), Sunil Narine (12), Sam Billings (14), Sheldon Jackson (0) — fell like a pack of cards.
However, hard-hitting West Indies batter Andre Russsell, showed some resilience to hit 25 runs off 18 deliveries but he failed to convert his start into a match-turning innings. He smashed one boundary and three sixes in his crucial stay.
Later, incoming tailender, Tim Southee (1) was sent packing without adding much to the tally. But Umesh Yadav (18) and Varun Chakravarthy (10 not out) forged a crucial 27-run stand for the last wicket to add some valuable runs to the team total.
The Sri Lankan spinner deceived the KKR batters with his length as he got crucial breakthroughs — Iyer, Narine, Jackson, Southee — at regular intervals of time to return figures of 4/20. He was, however, not up to the mark on the field and leaked runs with his poor fielding efforts.
