Moeen Ali managed to defend 24 runs in the final over as Royal Challengers Bangalore survived a late Andre Russell assault to hold on for a 10-run win over Kolkata Knight Riders.
Batting first, RCB amassed a daunting 213-4 in their 20 overs with skipper Virat Kohli bringing up his maiden ton of the season and fifth overall in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in a special innings.
In reply, KKR looked down and out at one point before Russell and Nitish Rana brought them roaring back with a 119-run stand but they fell just short of the finish line to suffer their fourth consecutive defeat.
For Bangalore, it was only the second win of the campaign and it just about keeps their slim hopes of making a miraculous run to the play-offs alive.
MOEEN MAKES IT BACK-TO-BACK FIFTIES
After registering only his second IPL half-century in the loss to Mumbai Indians, Moeen Ali made it two in a row with a terrific 28-ball cameo that fetched him 66 runs.
RCB had struggled to up the ante in the early half of their innings with the powerplay overs yielding only 42 runs but Moeen’s arrival to the crease changed all that in a jiffy with the Englishman striking the ball sweetly from the very go.
When the all-rounder arrived at the crease, Bangalore were 59-2 at the end of nine overs. By the time he departed at the end of the 16th over, the visitors had reached 149.
Dealing primarily in boundaries, Moeen struck six sixes and five fours in his brief but explosive stay at the crease. Kuldeep Yadav’s confidence was visibly shattered after Moeen took him on for 27 runs in a single over and even the left-hander’s dismissal off the last delivery provided the KKR wrist-spinner little consolation.
As fluent a fifty as they come from Moeen. Image -@IPL/Twitter.
KOHLI CHANGES GEARS
A big reason behind RCB’s slow start with the bat had been Kohli struggling to time the ball initially. The Bangalore skipper was content to play second fiddle to Moeen in a terrific 99-run stand but changed gears to deadly effect after bringing up his half-century.
Kohli’s first 50 runs of the day came off 40 deliveries but the next 50 came in just 17 with the right-hander registering his fifth century in the IPL.
KKR’s bowlers had no respite with even Andre Russell facing the music from Kohli’s bat as the India superstar brought a packed Eden Gardens crowd to its feet.
Kohli’s sensational acceleration at the death was the reason RCB collected 92 runs off the final five overs with the top-order batsman deservedly getting to his ton off the penultimate delivery of the innings before holing out in the deep off the final ball.
RUSSELL STORM ARRIVES TOO LATE
That RCB held on for the win eventually was largely down to Dale Steyn’s excellent spell upfront on his return to the franchise after nearly a decade. Kohli’s men had picked up only three wickets in the powerplay overs previously in the current campaign but they claimed as many inside just five overs on Friday with Steyn accounting for two for them.
That excellent start with the ball which saw Kolkata restricted to 60-3 at the halfway mark proved to be crucial for the visitors with Russell and Nitish Rana turning the game on its head with some mighty hitting.
Rana kept the hosts in the game with a quick-fire fifty even as Russell warmed up with three consecutive sixes of Yuzvendra Chahal in the 15th over.
The pair rained down the sixes in the death overs and accounted for 14 of them between themselves in a breathtaking 119-run stand. However, even that assault which included 10 sixes from Russell’s bat alone fell just short in the end with Rana remaining stranded on a valiant unbeaten 85 (46).
BRIEF SCORES
Royal Challengers Bangalore: 213-4
Virat Kohli: 100 (58)
Moeen Ali: 66 (28)
Kolkata Knight Riders: 203-5
Nitish Rana: 85 not out (46)
Andre Russell: 65 (25)