RCB overcome KKR in a low-scoring encounter

It needed some doing at the end but it was done nevertheless as Sherfane Rutherford dropped anchor for the Challengers while Shahbaz Ahmed, Harshal Patel and Dinesh Karthik chipped in with crucial cameos to seal the deal for Royal Challengers Bangalore.

On a day where the RCB bowlers were bang on their money, the batters suffered an untoward slide as the surface showcased its own voodoo making the ball drift left, right and center.

Faf won the toss and elected to bowl first. Akash Deep drew first blood for the Challengers as he caught Venkatesh Iyer off guard with some raw pace. Despite Rahane and Shreyas Iyer's initial dab of overhaul, Mohammed Siraj reeled them back in with a brilliant mix of pace.

Once Rahane departed to Siraj's gem, the Challengers cannoned through the floodgates as Wanindu Hasaranga and Akash Deep conjured absolutely incredulous figures.

Akash Deep bagged the second of the night as Nitish Rana's over-aggressive stance backfired. What followed thereafter was Wanindu Hasaranga weaving his insoluble web of magic around the Knights as he bagged a staggering 4 scalps that entailed the important monikers of KKR captain, Shreyas Iyer, Sunil Narine, Sheldon Jackson and Tim Southee.

If Hasaranga's four-fer was a sheer display of magic, Harshal's bedazzling brilliance left KKR teetering along the fringes of a nosedive into decadence. Harshal penned a new record in the history of the tournament as he became the first bowler to bowl two consecutive wicket-maidens.

More importantly, he managed to silence the KKR colossus, Andre Russell as he wrung out four dot balls and followed it up with an absolute peach that left the Caribbean muscle-man totally out of his element. A decent last-wicket stand helped KKR to rack up a few crucial runs in the end as they managed to post 128 runs before Akash Deep cleaned the stumps of a swinging Umesh Yadav. The duo of Hasaranga and Akash Deep plundered 7 crucial wickets between them to restrict the Knights to a modest total.

Despite a paltry total on the cards, RCB was jolted to a rude awakening as they lost their top three batters to some insane swing and bounce from Tim Southee and Umesh Yadav. Despite Kohli starting his knock with a couple of gorgeous-looking strokes, he couldn’t carry on with the salvo as Umesh Yadav’s curler produced an unwanted nick.

Chasing 129 to win, RCB was wobbling at 17 for the loss of 3 with an untoward promotion of David Willey to number five while Caribbean power-hitter Sherfane Rutherford coming out at number 6 with the ginormous task of arresting the early decline. The initial face-offs didn’t really look too comfortable for Rutherford and Willey but the duo ensured that RCB doesn’t lose further wickets in the middle.

The partnership stitched together an important 45-runs stand that was just starting to bring out the duo’s belligerent intent before Sunil Narine threw a spanner in their plans with a skitter that left Willey beaten for pace. The following synergy of Shahbaz Ahmed and Rutherford played a major part in defining the fate of the game as they put together a stand of 39 runs with Shahbaz showcasing his batting flair as he took out Andre Russell for two colossal strikes.

However, if thrillers would have a name, it had to be RCB vs KKR as Shahbaz lost his wicket trying to be ultra-aggressive and that opened up a window of another turnaround. To make matters worse, Tim Southee’s eighteenth over scalped two more wickets for the Knights, leaving the equation perfectly in balance with two big strikers of the cherry in the middle namely Dinesh Karthik and Harshal Patel.

Patel took out Venkatesh Iyer for a couple of important boundaries that reduced the equation to 7 from 6 in the final over and most importantly, it had Dinesh Karthik on strike. The former KKR captain whacked the all-important strike of the match on the first ball of Russell’s final over as the match was tied. He followed it up with a stellar straight drive to open RCB’s account in 2022.

Wanindu Hasaranga was adjudged the man of the match for his four-fer display while a collective display from the lower-middle order batters will be a massive impetus for the Challengers as they take their journey forward in 2022.