IPL24: KKR edges out RCB by the barest of margins in epic contest , Russell the saviour

  

KKR  survived several anxious moments before  edging past a fighting RCB by the barest of margin of 1 run in a ripping thriller in the 40 degrees Celsius heat in the afternoon IPL game at Eden Gardens . After piling on an impressive 222/6 , KKR survived several roller coaster moments in the chase by RCB before registering a hard earned 5th win of the season to reach the number 2 spot in the points table . 

In the space of five days, the sequence of defeats was created by scoring more than 200 runs twice in a row.  The match was almost taken away by Will Jacks and Rajat Patidar.  Russell returned with  two wickets in his first over.  Dinesh Karthik, one of the best finishers in the IPL, also was dismissed  at the end.  However, Mitchell Starc took the 'responsibility' of winning the game in the last over but was spanked for 3 sixes by Karn Sharma .  However Starc managed to hold a return catch on the 5th ball , and Kolkata had the last laugh by winning the match by 1 run.

 After losing the toss, Kolkata went to bat first at home.  Batting first, Kolkata made 222/6 despite Sunil Narine's off-form 10 . It was first Phil Salt who played a blistering knock and gave KKR a great start and then Shreyas Iyer who steadied the innings after loss of a few wickets  .  In reply, Virat Kohli and Faf du Plessis failed, but Jacks and Patidar almost won Bengaluru the game with dominating batting  .  Karn Sharma hit Starc for three sixes in the last over after Russell sent  back the dangerous Karthik .  2 runs needed off the last ball after Karn Sharma  was dismissed.  Lockie Ferguson was out for the second run and KKR won by 1 run. 

 Many questions can arise after the match.  But one question should arise the most, how long will KKR carry Starc in their XI ?  He already made KKR's job difficult by leaking 36 runs in the first 2 overs.  Later on, the rest of the bowlers managed it, but Starc was given the last over when 21 runs was required .  Against infamous cricketers like Karn Sharma.  Starc leaked three sixes & KKR nearly lost the game !  Will the KKR thinktank rest Starc and play  Dushmanta Chameera in the next game ? The time  has come to take this tough decision . 

From the first over of KKR's innings, it was understood that the ball will not come easily to the bat on this pitch.  However, Phil Salt did not make a bad start by hitting Mohammad Siraj for a six and a four.  Yash Dayal was smashed  for two fours in the second over.  But on the other hand, Sunil Narine could not play at all.  At one time he could not score any runs in the first seven balls.  In the third over, Siraj made him very uncomfortable.  KKR could not use the power play opportunity.

 The pressure is off a lot in the fourth over.  Salt increased the run rate by smashing four fours and two sixes off Lockie Ferguson with 28 runs.  But Siraj picked him up with the second ball of the fifth over.  Narine also returned after some time.  He was getting impatient not being able to score quickly .  Gets out trying to play a big shot.  Although Yash Dayal's ball was far away, he hit the shot without moving his body forward.  It was not easy to play big shots with the slower ball.  Dayal returned Narine (10) using the plan.

 Angkrish Raghuvanshi (3) also returned out in the power play being brilliantly caught by Green at midwicket off Dayal .  However Shreyas and Venkatesh Iyer focused on stabilising the innings but Venkatesh (16) after starting well lost his patience and got out on the pull shot off Green .

Rinku was not very  successful.  After RCB bringing in the spinners, it was already becoming difficult for the KKR batsmen to play big shots.  The fast bowlers leaned towards the slower ones.  Bowlers like Ferguson were also giving slower.  Rinku (24)  , after starting impressively with a 6  returned out while playing a pull shot to a slower ball like Venkatesh .  In his place, Andre Russell also had to face a lot of problems and could not find his bearings .  But Shreyas on the other side has to be praised.  He was playing by understanding the situation.  There was an impression of skill in shot selection.  Knew that the team would be under more pressure if he was out.  So didn't take any risk and played intelligent shots.  Russell's 42-run partnership with him made a lot of difference.  Even if one more wicket fell at that time, KKR would have been under pressure.

 Shreyas's dismissal is also unfortunate.  Even Shreyas (50) himself could not have imagined that Faf du Plessis would jump in and grab  He went back to shake his head.  Even after that, Ramandeep Singh made a rapid 24  and helped  KKR who crossed the 200 mark.   Siraj leaked  two sixes and a four in the 19th over . 20 runs from that over helped KKR a lot.  Dayal also gave 16 runs in the last over so there was no difficulty in crossing the 200. Russell stayed 27 not out 

 RCB won the highest chase of 204 runs in the history of IPL.  As a result, they had to surpass themselves in this match.  Kohli started well by hitting Harshit Rana for four on the first ball.  12 runs were scored in the first over.  Starc gave 15 runs in the second over including a flicked six by Kohli .  Controversy was created from the first ball of the third over.  Harshit's slower ball comes in at almost waist height of Kohli.  After Kohli somehow blocked the ball, Harshit took the return catch.  Kohli took the 'no ball' review but it was seen as valid dismissal because Kohli advanced from the crease.  Replays also show the ball is below his waist.  Kohli, however, could not be happy.  He argued with the umpires.  Back in the dugout, he looked furious.

Duplessis (7) had to take over when Kohli returned.  But he too could not last long.  Varun Chakraborty's first ball went to mid-on.  Venkatesh jumped and took a good catch.  The KKR camp was relieved to get back the two weapons of the opposition.  That relief didn't last long.  Will Jacks and Rajat Patidar put the KKR bowlers under a lot of pressure with glorious strokeplay .  Patidar was not in form for so long.  Jacks hasn't played much before.  But the bowlers of KKR seemed to have no clue to stop their onslaught as RCB made rapid strides towards the big target .

 These two batsmen were not caring about any bowler.  Suyash Sharma was introduced as an 'Impact Player' on spin-assisted pitches.  22 runs was leaked in his second over.  Jacks casually threw the ball out of bounds.  Narine also did not get exemption leaking 15 runs in his over.

 Russell broke the pair.  His bowling was supposed to be most effective on this pitch.  He picked Jacks (55)  off the first ball.  Patidar (52) was dismissed on the last ball of the over.  The West Indies allrounder  picked up the two most dangerous batsmen of the opposition in the same over.  Another West Indian Narine showed magic in the next over.  He dismissed Cameron Greene (6).  Mahipal Lomror (4) was caught and bowled on the last ball as RCB slumped to a batting collapse from 137/2 to 155/6 

 Even then KKR could not rest in peace.  Because Karthik was on the opposite side.  His innings of 83 off 35 balls against Hyderabad in the past has never been forgotten.  He could have won if he played half that day.  But due to pitch and variety of KKR bowlers Karthik struggled .  It is impossible to say what would have happened if Russell had not  dismissed Karthik (27) in the 19th over.  Karn Sharma (20) nearly won the game in the final over but a vulnerable Mitchell Starc finally had the luck on his side as KKR got out of jail winning by 1 run. 

Russell with 27 not out and 3/25 was the player of the match .