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Sharjah: Kolkata Knight Riders beat Bangalore Royal Challengers by two runs in last ball thriller at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
For most part of the match, it seemed like Royal Challengers Bangalore would add Kolkata Knight Riders to their list of victims. However, a combination of brilliance on the field from Chris Lynn and an outstanding last over bowled by Vinay Kumar provided a late twist in the tale as KKR held their nerve to come out on top by two runs.
KKR, coming off a loss at the hands of Delhi Daredevils, were put in to bat by Virat Kohli. Gautam Gambhir's horror run in the tournament continued as Starc removed him first ball for a third successive duck in as many matches. Manish Pandey cracked a boundary over point off Albie Morkel to announce himself before lofting a simple catch to Kohli at covers off the very next ball. Totterring at 10 for 2, Chris Lynn - playing his first match for KKR, joined Kallis in the middle and the pair guided KKR past 50 in the seventh over.
Lynn welcomed Sri Lanka great Muttiah Muralitharan - playing his first game in IPL 7 - with two sixes over deep-midwicket to set the ball rolling. Kallis went about his game quietly as Lynn continued being the aggressor. The 24-year-old Australian got a lifeline in the eighth over while batting on 32. Off a flatter delivery from legspinner Yuzvendra Chahal, Lynn was caught by Starc at deep midwicket, who in the process touched the boundary rope with his legs.
Kallis and Lynn had put on 80 runs for the third wicket before Lynn perished for 45 picking out AB de Villiers at long-off. Another out-of-form KKR batsman Yusuf Pathan survived just two more balls before falling to Aaron for nought as KKR went past 100 in the 14th over. Going at a little over seven runs per over, Kallis and Robin Uthappa consolidated the innings without further damage.
At 106 for 4 in 15 overs, RCB tightened things and got rid of Kallis for 43. The 38-year-old mistimed an inside out shot to find Yogesh Takawale at sweeper cover giving Chahal his first wicket of the match. Both Uthappa and Surya Kumar Yadav did well to accumulate 16 runs off Starc as the run-rate continued to fluctuate.
Aaron struck for a third time getting Uthappa to lob a catch straight down Starc's throat for 22. Towards the end, Yadav's 18-ball 24 got KKR some momentum. However, Starc conceded only eight runs in what turned out to be an exceptional 20th over.
To chase 151, Parthiv Patel and Yogesh Takawale rose to the occasion and launched an early onslaught on the likes of Morne Morkel and Umesh Yadav. Parthiv who took a liking to Morkel generated a few words from the South African fast bowler but it did little to faze him. Takawale added to Morkel's misery clobbering him for six out of the eight fours he hit as the openers brought up the fifty in the seventh over.
Takawale raced to 40 before falling leg-before to an off-cutter from Kallis. In the very next over, Parthiv followed Takawale back in the hut after a top edge from the left-hander's bat landed in the hands of Lynn at covers. RCB's men in form Kohli and Yuvraj Singh took centrestage and began to consolidate. Yadav, who came back in the 11th over for his second spell, was demolished for a six and a four from Yuvraj and Kohli.
KKR, in order to pull things back, reintroduced Sunil Narine who had bowled just one over in the initial stage of the innings. Both Yuvraj and Kohli played him with caution and simultaneously went after the bowling at the other end. Narine, in his next over, cleaned up Kohli for 31 but one got a feeling it all came a little too late for the 2012 champions. With 10 needed off the last nine balls, Umesh removed Yuvraj (31) to provide a late twist in the tale.
Earlier, Bangalore have won the toss and have opted to field.
RCB made a couple of changes with Muttiah Muralitharan and Yogesh Takawale come in Nic Madddinson and Sachin Rana while KKR brought in Umesh Yadav and Chris Lynn, Chawla and Shakib Al Hasan misses out.
Teams:
Kolkata : Gautam Gambhir (Capt.), Jacques Kallis, Manish Pandey, Robin Uthappa (wk), Yusuf Pathan, Chris Lynn, Suryakumar Yadav, Vinay Kumar, Sunil Narine, Morne Morkel, Umesh Yadav
Bangalore Parthiv Patel (wk), Virat Kohli (Capt.), Yuvraj Singh, AB de Villiers, Albie Morkel, Yogesh Takawale, Mitchell Starc, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ashok Dinda, Varun Aaron, Muttiah Muralitharan
Brief scores
Kolkata Knight Riders - 150/7 (Lynn 45, Kallis 43, Aaron 3-16)
Bangalore Royal Challengers - 148/5 (Takawale 40, Kohli 31, Yuvraj Singh 31)
Result - Kolkata Knight Riders won by 2 runs
Points - Kolkata Knight Riders 2, Bangalore Royal Challengers 0
