On this day in 2019 – Virat Kohli’s century and Moeen Ali’s hitting lights up Eden Gardens

The results in the first half of the 2019 season of the IPL had gone pretty dismally for RCB. Despite some strong performances, the team just could not get over the line, and the first six games had all ended in defeats. The game against Kolkata Knight Riders in Bangalore seemed to have been won, only for the West Indian giant Andre Russell to spoil the party with a 13-ball 48. RCB were looking for their second win of the season when they visited the iconic Eden Gardens and were up against the Knight Riders.

RCB struggled to score. Parthiv Patel was dismissed for a run-a-ball 11. Akshdeep Nath joined Kohli in the middle and even though the duo managed to put together a decent partnership, RCB were still behind the eight ball. Nath fell to Russell for a 15-ball 13. RCB were prodding along at snail’s pace at 60/2 after 9 overs.

Then came the game-changing partnerships, and the following few overs changed the face of the game. It was Moeen Ali who took the initiative and signalled his intent, charging Kuldeep Yadav and smashing him over long-on for a six off only his second ball. Ali took a liking to the KKR wrist-spinners. He took on Chawla successfully and slog-swept him over the mid-wicket fence. Kuldeep was brought back after 3 overs, but his fate did not change. Moeen Ali took him to the cleaners; 10 runs coming off the first two balls of his new spell. The English all-rounder had reached to 40 off 22 balls, giving the innings some much needed momentum. RCB were on 122/2 with 5 overs to go. Kohli, seemed to have shaken off a scratchy beginning and was gaining some confidence himself, having crossed 50. 

The Kohli and Moeen Ali partnership worth 90 runs off 43 balls turned the game in RCB’s favour

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KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik persisted with Kuldeep Yadav. Moeen Ali did not mind it a single bit. The long-on and mid-wicket fence was peppered consistently, the first five balls of the over going for 27 runs; Moeen Ali getting 26 of those. Kuldeep got his revenge of the final ball, but the damage had already been done. The innings which lasted only 28 balls for 66 had a massive impact on the direction the game was going in. With 24 balls left in the innings, RCB were on 149; the innings now moving along at more than 9 an over, a stark contrast to the first half of it. 

With Moeen Ali gone, the onus was now on the set Virat Kohli to give the innings its final push. Kohli unleashed a range of classy cricket shots and power hitting to mesmerise the Eden Gardens crowd. The 17th over bowled by Harry Gurney went for 19 runs, the 18th by Narine for 10 and the penultimate over by Prasidh Krishna for 19 more. RCB’s score had leaped to 195 in the blink of an eye. Marcus Stoinis who had the best seat in the house to witness a Kohli batting masterclass was not to be left behind either as he took on Gurney successfully. Kohli back on strike for the penultimate ball of the innings flicked the ball away, and the boundary brought up his century. The feat was even more astonishing considering it took him 14.1 overs of the RCB innings to get the first half of his runs. RCB had reached 213/4 in their 20 overs. The second half of the innings had yielded more than twice as much as the first.

RCB had struggled to pick wickets in the powerplay and Dale Steyn, coming back into the RCB fold after 9 long years, displayed his calibre, dismissing the dangerous Chris Lynn in the very first over. Sunil Narine, who has been RCB’s nemesis with the bat soon succumbed to a barrage of hostile, short-pitched bowling. Shubman Gill was Steyn’s second prey, and KKR’s run-chase was in tatters within the first 6 overs. Robin Uthappa and Nitish Rana tried to resurrect the innings by getting a partnership together, but they struggled to provide any strong sense of direction to the innings. The partnership of 46 came from 41 balls, and was ended when Uthappa found Pawan Negi at the square leg off Marcus Stoinis. 

Uthappa’s dismissal brought Andre Russell to the middle. No total would be safe as long as Dre Rus is alive. Russell got his eye in, playing out the first 8 balls for 12 runs. Then he shifted gears. Three sixers off Chahal off the last three balls of his third over sent RCB hearts fluttering. Nitish Rana began to chance his arm too, taking on Navdeep Saini; 17 runs coming off the 16th over. KKR needed 76 off the last 4. Insane to think that even a required rate of 19 runs an over was considered achievable, but not wrongly so until Russell was batting. The next 2 overs by Siraj and Steyn went for a combined 33 runs. KKR were still fighting, the game was still alive. 

Marcus Stoinis was tasked with the unenviable job of bowling to Andre Russell who was trying to launch a spacecraft with his bat off every ball he faced. Stoinis held his own for the first half of the over, which entailed a wide and three dot balls. RCB were nearly there. But, Dre Rus had different plans. He cleared the fence with the next three balls, to leave KKR with 24 needed off the last over. 

Moeen Ali, who had taken the KKR bowlers on was now going to be at the receiving end of Russell’s fury. He had 23 runs to defend off the last 4 balls. The first of them went for a six. 17 needed off 3. When every RCB fan must have been losing their cool, Moeen kept his. All that was needed was a dot ball, and it came. Russell missed a full delivery and RCB were home barring any wides or no-balls. A rocket throw from the deep mid-wicket fence by RCB’s centurion Virat Kohli caught Russell short at the non-strikers’ end. The last ball six by Rana mattered little, and RCB had defended the total by 10 runs.