Royal Challengers Bangalore needed 7 runs to win off the last six balls with only three wickets in hand but the experienced Dinesh Karthik held his nerves to hit a six and a four to guide RCB to a three-wicket win against Kolkata Knight Riders here at the Dr DY Patil Sports Academy in Navi Mumbai on Wednesday (March 30).
“DK’s experience helped in the end, cool-calm, runs weren’t never really too far away. He’s probably as cool as MS Dhoni can get in the last five overs,” said RCB captain Faf du Plessis in a post-match presentation.
RCB needed 17 to win off the last 12 balls with only three wickets in hand, as Harshal Patel joined Karthik in the middle. Patel and Karthik managed to gather 10 runs off the penultimate over before the latter finished off the tie with lusty blows off the first two balls of Andre Russell’s final over.
READ – A stellar bowling performance by #RCB, spearheaded by Wanindu Hasaranga’s 4-wkt haul restricted #KKR to 128 before useful lower-order contributions from RCB batters took them over the line in a final-over thriller – by @mihirlee_58
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Bangalore team’s seamers Akash Deep and Mohammed Siraj were picked up three wickets in the powerplays to give their team a terrific start after du Plessis decided to bowl first. “Very happy. Good win, obviously chasing small scores, you want to be positive and not leave it late, but it was good bowling from their seamers. Tonight there was seam and bounce, the first night it swung a bit more,” Fu Plessis explained.
Despite the win, the RCB skipper believes that his team should have finished the match better as their bowlers bowled out Kolkata Knight Riders for 128 in 18.5 overs. “Two-three days ago, it was 200 vs 200. Tonight it was 120 vs 120, pretty good. In an ideal world, we would’ve liked to have won more convincingly but a win is a win,” Du Plessis added.
The Faf du Plessis led side has registered their first win of the season and now they will take on Rajasthan Royals in their next match on April 5.
