Kolkata Knight Riders downed Royal Challengers Bangalore by four wickets with seven balls to spare as Dinesh Karthik made a perfect debut as the host’s captain at the Eden Gardens on Sunday.
Karthik himsꦯelf made an unbeaten 35 after Sunil Narine, sent in as an opener, thrashed the visitors out of contention with a belligerent 19-ball 50.
Put in to bat, RCB reached a challenging 176 for seven which proved inadequa𓂃te🌳 eventually.
Sunil Narine, who seems to be somewhat losing the ‘magic’ of his off-spin variations after having been constantly reported for suspect action, redeemed himself in the role of a pinch-hitter.
In his brief stay in the♍ middle Narine slammed five sixes and four boundaries to ensure that KKR picked up the bulk of the runs in the PowerPlay period itself.
Narine perished in the sixth over without adding a run to his half-century, but he had set KKR on the path to victory. Nitish Rana, the new name in the KKR roster, scored a stroke-filledꦿ 34 in a 55-run partnership with Karthik for the fourth wicket to take the score close to the target.
Earlier, RCB batting sparkled but failed to explode, thanks to a clever change in the bowling made by Karthik who brought in part💝-timer Rana just when the visitors were on course to a huge total.
Here is how fans reacted to the Kolkata Knight Riders win:
Good start for and but looks like have got a spark they didn’t have last year – Watch This Space
— Isa Guha (@isaguha)
flying start by KKR but still think there is enough in the wicket for fast bowlers🎃 to take advantage and turn the game ar❀ound.Umesh has shown the signs
— zaheer khan (@ImZaheer)
RCB’s team is a joke 😰😰
— Ben Duckett (@BenDuckett1)
Sunil Narine is the true Mad Max of T20 cricket, others are impostors or just in name…
— Cricketwallah (@cricketwallah)
KKR win by 4 wickets. It's still a long tournament and we now head 🏠to the Chinnaswamy 🏟️!
Baz, AB, Mandy,Umesh and Woakes still put in inspiring shows for us to carry back to Bengaluru 👏
Bring on .— Royal Challengers Bengaluru (@RCBTweets)
Why would you send a lamb to the slaughterhouse? But someday the hunter also becomes hunted. Nitish Rana….tell this story to your grand kids 😊🙏
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash)
Sunil Charles Lara dismantling RCB.
— Nikhil 🏏 (@CricCrazyNIKS)
The start the VIVO season on a winning note.
Beat by 4 wickets with seven balls to spare.
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL)
KKR start the𒊎 IPL season 11 on a winning note.
— betvisa68.com (@CricketTimesHQ)
Bowlers dismissing Kohli & ABD off successive deliverie🐷s in the same over in IPL:
Kallis, 2012
Perera, 2016
RANA, 2018— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath)
Not much of difference in RCB & 🐼KKR from previous seasons, inspite of fresh auction
RCB:
– Heavy top-4
– Lack of good finishers
– Bowlers failing to defend the targetKKR:
– Tight spin attack
– Narine giving blistering start
– Comfortable chase at Eden Gardens— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath)
Results of RCB's last 11 matches with AB de Villiers in the playing XI:
Lost
Lost
Lost
Lost
Lost
Lost
Lost
Lost
Lost
Lost
Lost— Sampath Bandarupalli (@SampathStats)
Karthik ‘s calmness was so vital and I have a feeling ꦚit will be a huge factor for KKR this year. Solid win. Nari🧔ne was full on lapalap. com
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif)
//twitter.com/sagarcasm/status/983006323825676288
And who would have thought, who would have thought, that Nitish Rana will get both! Nitis⛄h Rana! You see something new everyday
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha)
//twitter.com/sai_roshan/status/983𝓰045297705283585
– All 3 matches so far, won by the team chasing.. wins his very first game as captain, cool knock too 👍
— Kaushik LM (@LMKMovieManiac)
IPL trophy is telling the RCB :
— + (@stfukkr)
🎉//twitter.com/SyyedAaftab/status/983045༒930990604290
