#IPL : KKR, Sunrisers Hyderabad registers convincing victory over their opponents
Bengaluru, April 30: After tasting a shocking defeat against Delhi Daredevils, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) team registered a commanding victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and made it 2-0 following their win in the earlier meeting in Kolkata. KKR defeated RCB by 6 wickets while chasing 176 runs.
After winning the toss and opting to field, KKR restricted the hosts to 175-4, and thereafter chased down the runs in 19.1 overs. The run-chase was piloted by the opener Chris Lynn, who scored a patient half-century and stayed until the job was done. There were useful contributions from Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa and Dinesh Karthik. Shubman Gill finished off the chase when he struck the first delivery of the final over – bowled by Umesh Yadav – through the off-side and collected a boundary.
Earlier in the evening, Royal Challengers Bangalore got off to a slow start. Brendon McCullum, drafted into the XI as a replacement for the ill AB de Villiers, and Quinton de Kock (29) added only 40 runs in the first six overs. But the opening pair stretched their partnership to 67 – RCB’s best opening partnership of VIVO IPL 2018 – before de Kock holed out just after the timeout. McCullum himself perished in the next over, miscuing a short delivery from Andre Russell to be caught behind. He made 38 from 28 balls.
It was then left to Virat Kohli once again, to score the bulk of the runs. And he did, finishing unbeaten on 68, in an innings in which he hit five fours and three sixes. The RCB captain started slowly not scoring a boundary until after he had faced ten balls.
But once he got the first one away with an outstanding cover drive, Virat started to find the ropes regularly. He played some stunning shots driving fluently through cover and extra-cover, and collected three sixes with sweetly timed hits on the leg-side (which included two astonishing whip shots over wide long-on).
RCB added 69 runs in the middle period, and 66 in the final five overs, to finish at 175-4. Apart from the opening partnership, the two other partnerships of note in the RCB innings were the 65-runs stand for the 4th wicket and the unbeaten 35-run partnership for the 5th wicket with Colin de Grandhomme.
In another match, the Sunrisers Hyderabad bowling attack once again bowled their team to a convincing win. With the 11-run win over Rajasthan Royals, the Kane Williamson-led team have jumped up to the top of the VIVO IPL 2018 points table.
Brief Scores:
Royal Challengers Bangalore 175-4 (Virat Kohli 68*, Brendon McCullum 38, Quinton de Kock 29, Andre Russell 3-31) lost to
Kolkata Knight Riders 176-4 in 19.1 overs (Chris Lynn 62*, Robin Uthappa 36, Sunil Narine 27, Murugan Ashwin 2-36, Mohammed Siraj 2-40) by 6 wickets.
Man of the Match Chris Lynn, for his unbeaten 62.
Sunrisers Hyderabad – 151/7 in 20 overs (K Williamson 63, A Hales 45, J Archer 3/26) beat
Rajasthan Royals – 140/6 in 20 overs (A Rahane 65*, S Samson 40, S Kaul 2/23) by 11 runs
Man of the Match – Kane Williamson for his 63 off 43 balls.