Gautam Gambhir-mentored Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) defeated Virat Kohli's Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) comprehensively by seven wickets in the Indian Premier League (IPL) match on Friday.
Apart from the usual, the Gambhir-Kohli rivalry was one of the talking points with the pair having a history of heated exchanges on and off the field. It was Gambhir who had the last laugh though in their sides' most recent encounter. On the field in today's match though, the duo shared a short embrace, perhaps hinting at an end to their rivalry.
Coming back to the match, KKR batters took at the chase head-on with the opening pair adding 86 runs on the board before the fall of the first wicket. Sunil Narine was dismissed after scoring 47 runs in 22 balls with five sixes and a strike rate of 213.64. Fellow opener Phil Salt took charge from the first over itself announcing the team's intentions.
Venkatesh Iyer came in after Narine's dismissal and took some time to adjust before going on a rampage of his own. After Salt's wicket, skipper Shreyas Iyer joined Venkatesh in the middle. The duo dug deep to absorb some pressure, occasionally hitting the odd boundary to keep the scoreboard ticking.
Venkatesh Iyer was then caught off the bowling of Yash Dayal which brought Rinku Singh on. By that time, the match was already in the hands of KKR who had brought the required rate under a run-a-ball. Shreyas Iyer wrapped things up with a six to win the match comfortably for KKR with 19 balls left.
Earlier, KKR had opted to bowl first having won the toss at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.
Virat Kohli shone in an otherwise disappointing performance for RCB scoring an unbeaten 83 off 59 balls. His innings included four sixes and four boundaries.
While skipper Faf du Plessis' poor form with the bat continued, Cameron Green joined Kohli between the sticks. The duo batter well, hitting the ball over the fence with ease. They added 65 runs before Andre Russell dismissed Green to bring Glenn Maxwell on the pitch.
KKR managed to check the run rate of RCB with wickets at regular intervals. However, they could have curtailed RCB at a lower score as Maxwell, who was dropped twice went on to score 28 runs before ultimately departing.
Towards the end, Dinesh Karthik added important quick-fire runs with 20 off eight deliveries including three maximums to take RCB to 183.
