KKR won the toss and decided to field first. Virat Kohli and skipper Faf du Plessis had a good start for RCB. However, Faf was soon sent away by Harshit Rana. RCB were 17/1 when Cameron Green joined Kohli. His quickfire 33 off 21 balls, with four 4s and two 6s, gave the RCB momentum. Virat, at the other end, continued to show his class in the IPL match.
At 82/2, it was Glenn Maxwell’s turn to come to bat. KKR fielders dropped two of his catches and gave him more chances to get explosive. However, he could not convert it into a big innings and finished at 28 off 19 balls. Rinku did not miss the catch this time as Maxwell scooped off Sunil Narine.
Rajat Patidar and Anuj Rawat came and left. After a promising start, RCB were struggling at 151/5 in 17.3 overs. Dinesh Karthik came to bat. His 20 runs off 8 balls took RCB to 182/6.
KKR decided to open with Narine, along with Phil Salt. Many doubted how much the combination would work while some insisted opening with Narine was a bad idea as KKR should have gone with a specialist opener. By the time Narine got out off Mayank Dagar, he had already scored 47 off 22 balls. KKR were 86/1 in just 6.3 overs. Salt was explosive from the very beginning.
After Salt (30 off 20 balls), there came Venkatesh Iyer. He continued to whack it around the park and scored 50 off 30 balls. No RCB bowler, except Vyshak Vijay Kumar (Impact Player), could make any mark. KKR captain Shreyas Iyer ended it with a 6 to seal a 7-wicket victory, with 19 balls left.
While there could be debates about what was the best moment of the match, many believe it was the encounter between Gautam Gambhir and Virat Kohli.
Sunil Narine, playing his 500th T20 match, was awarded the Player of the Match.
IPL 2024 Points Table
KKR are now at the number 2 spot with a Net Run Rate (NRR) of +1.047 while Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are at the top spot with an NRR of +1.979. Both have 4 points from 2 matches.
RCB, with 2 points from 3 matches, are at number 6 with an NRR of -0.711.
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