In the maha match of the week, KKR displayed splendid batting performance, followed by nerves of steel shown in bowling to overcome RCB in a nail biting encounter as Phil Salt “assaulted” RCB’s bowlers to help KKR post a high score of 75/3 at the end of the powerplay, with RCB pulling things back well with a couple of wickets in the upcoming overs. However captain Shreyas Iyer showed great leadership skills to play an excellent knock of 50 off 36 to score his first fifty since 2022 in IPL.
RCB did a remarkable job at keeping Andre Russell silent with the bat by executing a perfect game plan against him, consisting of nailed yorkers, which is Russell’s great weakness. However he still managed to play a decent innings of 27 off 20, receiving support from Ramandeep Singh whose quickfire cameo of 24 off 9 helped KKR cross the 220 run mark. RCB put up a decent bowling display and executed their plans well but thick skinned KKR were simply too good and still managed to put up a mammoth total for RCB.
RCB though, showed intent to chase down the total and get back to winning ways as Virat Kohli gave them a blazing start. However he could not make it large as he was dismissed at just 18 off 7 with skipper Faf also failing to deliver. However, Will Jacks and Rajat Patidar clicked for their team brilliantly as they knit a 102 run partnership in just 8 overs, bringing RCB back into the game. However, Russell struck for KKR with the ball as he dismissed them both in the 12th over with Cameron Green and Mahipal Lomror also being dismissed by other bowlers in quick succession, which was further followed by Russell dismissing the dangerous finisher Dinesh Karthik, which completely flipped the game in KKR’s favour. He also ultimately won the Man of the Match award for his spectacular spell.
He wasn't happy neither were we👽👽👽👽#IPL2024 #RCBvsKKR #ViratKohli #Umpire pic.twitter.com/Tqwweu0B5w
— VK AND CR7 fc (@CR7FC6545) April 22, 2024
However, Suyash Prabhudessai and Karn Sharma took the game down to the wire with their brief cameos and almost took RCB home, but KKR had nerves of steel, with Starc managing to save the game despite an expensive last over, giving KKR a one run victory over RCB to elevate their position in the points table and put RCB in a further dismal state. KKR and their captain Shreyas Iyer will definitely be pleased by his and his team’s performance and nerves of steel, while RCB really need to pull up their socks and push themselves to beat other teams to have any hope for a comeback at all.
