Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by 4 wickets in the Eliminator match to make it to Qualifier 2 while RCB's journey in the tournament came to an end with the loss. Batting first after winning the toss in the match, RCB scored 138/7 and the target of 139 runs was achieved by KKR at the loss of 6 wickets in the last over.
Chasing the target, Kolkata started well. Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer added 41 runs in five overs. This partnership was broken by Purple Cap holder Harshal Patel by dismissing Gill (29). After this, Yuzvendra Chahal got the second success for the team by dismissing Rahul Tripathi (6). Venkatesh Iyer (26) was dismissed by Harshal Patel. The wicket of Nitish Rana (23) came in Chahal's account.
- In the fourth over of the innings, Shubman Gill hit three consecutive fours against George Garten.
- Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer added 41 runs in 32 balls for the first wicket.
- KKR's score was 48/1 till the powerplay.
- Sunil Narine opened his account with a six off the very first ball and he hit 3 sixes in an over from Dan Christian.
- Nitish Rana and Sunil Narine added 31 runs in 20 balls for the fourth wicket.
- Sunil Narine scored (26) off 15 balls. His wicket was picked up by Mohammad Siraj and it was also the 100th wicket of his T20 career.
DRS came in handy for KohliRCB appealed for LBW against Rahul Tripathi, but the umpire gave him a note-out. After this Virat Kohli took the DRS and it was clearly visible in the review that the ball was hit on the first pad and Tripathi (6) returned to the pavilion.
RCB could have scored bigPlaying first after winning the toss, RCB scored 138/7 in the game of 20 overs. Till the first ten overs, the team's score was 70 runs for the loss of two wickets and it was believed that the team would be able to make a big total and would give a tough challenge to KKR, but this did not happen. Bangalore did not play a player in front of Sunil Narine. Lockie Ferguson got the first breakthrough for KKR by dismissing Devdutt Padikkal (21). Narine then took the wickets of Captain Kohli (39), Shrikar Bharat (9), de Villiers (11) and Maxwell (15).
- Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal put on 49 runs for the first wicket.
- Padikkal has scored 411 runs so far this season. Last year also he scored 473 runs in 15 innings.
- RCB's score was 53/1 till the powerplay.
- KS Bharat and Kohli added 20 runs in 27 balls for the second wicket.
- KS Bharat played a slow innings of 16 balls (9).
- Virat Kohli (39) was dismissed by Sunil Narine for the third time in the IPL.
- Kohli (901) became the second Indian after Shikhar Dhawan (986) to hit 900 fours in T20 cricket.
- Sunil Narine (4/21) This is the third time he has taken four wickets in an innings against RCB.
- This is the 8th time Narine has taken four wickets in an innings. In this case, he left behind Lasith Malinga (7).
whose journey will end todayThe winning team in this match will first play the losing team in Qualifier-1 for entry into the final. The losing team's journey this season will come to an end. RCB under the captaincy of Virat Kohli has won 4 out of 7 matches. At the same time, KKR, captained by Oen Morgan of England, has won 5 out of 7 matches. Both these captains will captain India and England in the T20 World Cup to be held immediately after the IPL. Both the teams are considered to be strong contenders for the title.
Equals match this seasonRCB and KKR have had an even match this season. In the match held on 18 April, RCB won by 38 runs. At the same time, in the match held on 20 September, KKR registered a thumping victory by 9 wickets.
Match winners in both the teamsBoth the teams have a lot of match winners. KKR have young attacking batsmen in the top order in Venkatesh Iyer, Shubman Gill and Rahul Tripathi. At the same time, RCB has a strong trio in the form of captain Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell. KS Bharat also played a match winning innings in the last match.
Even today Russell did not get a chanceKKR's star all-rounder Andre Russell could not make it to the playing XI even today due to poor fitness. This is the fifth match in a row, when Russell could not make an entry in the playing XI. Shakib Al Hasan has been given a chance in the team in his place.
both teamsRCB - Virat Kohli (capt), Devdutt Padikkal, Srikar Bharat (wk), Daniel Christian, Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers, Shahbaz Ahmed, Harshal Patel, George Garten, Mohammad Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal
KKR - Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Oen Morgan (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Shakib Al Hasan, Sunil Narine, Lockie Ferguson, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakraborty
