Sid Monga by First innings report

In the IPL, doubts seem to arise almost every day, but Ajinkya Rahane made a promising start to his captaincy tenure with Kolkata Knight Riders, scoring a brisk 56 off 31 balls. However, KKR failed to build on the electrifying partnership between Rahane and Sunil Narine. After being put in to bat, they were cruising at 107 for 2 in 10 overs when Narine fell for a quickfire 44 off 26. But the momentum fizzled out in the second half, as they managed only 67 more runs, with the death overs crawling at under a run a ball.

Krunal Pandya spearheaded Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s fightback, claiming the crucial wickets of Rahane, Rinku Singh, and Venkatesh Iyer, finishing with impressive figures of 4-0-29-3. Suyash Sharma, the former KKR player who initially struggled, made a significant impact in his final over by dismissing Andre Russell with a perfectly executed wrong’un.

The slowdown in KKR’s scoring mirrored the early pressure applied by Josh Hazlewood, who forced a sluggish start, conceding just nine runs in the first three overs while also removing Quinton de Kock. The new ball exhibited some uneven bounce, making life difficult for the batters.

Once Rahane found his rhythm, capitalizing on a loose delivery on the leg side, KKR surged, smashing 98 runs in the next seven overs. Rahane was fearless, taking risks at every opportunity, while Narine transformed his innings from a sluggish 1 off 8 to a blazing 43 off the next 18 balls. Narine even targeted his former teammate, legspinner Suyash Sharma, treating him like an offspinner and taking him apart.

However, Krunal Pandya turned the tide after Narine was dismissed by Rasikh Salam. Mixing up his pace and even experimenting with a bouncer, Krunal showcased his accuracy, with all three of his wickets coming via bowled dismissals. When Russell arrived at the crease, RCB opted to bowl additional overs of legspin, a gamble that paid off when Suyash clean-bowled him with a brilliant wrong’un.

Hazlewood and Yash Dayal then delivered a clinical finish for RCB, restricting KKR to a modest total. It set up what seemed like a straightforward chase for RCB, provided they could navigate the threat posed by Narine and Varun Chakravarthy.