Gill, Iyer power KKR to nine-wicket victory against RCB
Following a concerted effort from bowlers, openers Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer powered Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to a dominating nine-wicket win over Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi today.
Kolkata, who left out Bangladesh's star all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan from the playing XI for today's game, moved two places up to five in the points table with three wins from eight games so far.
Kolkata showed serious intent after their mediocre outing in the first phase of the tournament in India as they bundled out Bangalore for a paltry 92 in 19 overs.
After that, the opening duo of Gill and debutant Iyer made light work of the chase as they helped their side romp to victory with as many as 10 overs to spare.
Gill was the only Kolkata batsman to depart, but his brilliant 34-ball 48, laced with six boundaries and a solitary maximum, had already set the tone for a dominating victory. Iyer impressed on his debut, smashing seven fours and a maximum during his unbeaten 27-ball 41.
It was a day to forget for Bangalore skipper Kohli, who, on his landmark 200th IPL game, was trapped in front off a Prasidh Krishna delivery in the second over after scoring just five off four deliveries.
Bangalore then kept on losing wickets at regular intervals, especially to the mystery spin of Varun Chakravarthy who removed the dangerous Glenn Maxwell (10 off 17) and Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva (0 off 1) in the 12th over in successive deliveries. Varun also picked up the wicket of Sachin Baby (7 off 17) in his next over, finishing with impressive figures of three for 13 in four overs.
Devdutt Padikkal top-scored with a 20-ball 22 for Bangalore as they suffered a horrible batting collapse.
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