In the end it was a comfortable victory for KKR, as Rana and DK’s calm partnership took the game out of RCB’s hand.
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Sunil Narine’s brilliant 50 in 19 balls set the ball rolling for KKR, as the West Indian’s brilliant knock gave his side the perfect start.
A jam packed Eden Gardens was extremely hyped up for the KKR’s first match of IPL 2018 against the Virat Kohli’s RCB.
A new look KKR under the stewardship of Dinesh Karthik looked ready for the occasion, as DK looked to get the better of Virat Kohli in his first match as an IPL captain.
After the initial blitz from Brendon McCullum, AB and Kohli took over as they put on their 15th fifty run partnership for RCB. The South African champion in particular looked very dangerous, as AB was striking the ball sweetly and was primed for a big innings.
But everything changed in two deliveries, as Nitish Rana first got AB’s prize wicket for his captain. The next ball was even better, as Rana yorked Kohli, with the RCB skipper absolutely stunned to see his stumps disturbed by the bowler.
Rana was also at hand to play a fine hand with the bat, as he had a wonderful first match for KKR.
PLAYER RATINGS:
Quinton de Kock – 4/10
The South African was expected to fire with the bat tonight, but was unfortunately dismissed without troubling the scorers much.
Brendon McCullum – 6/10
Baz threatened to take the game away from KKR early on, but could not capitalize on the start and left after playing a decent hand.
Virat Kohli – 6/10
Kohli tried to play a steady innings and started off slowly, but was dismissed by a beauty from Nitish Rana.
AB de Villiers – 7/10
The brilliant South African looked in great touch, as he smashed a quick fire 44. Sadly for RCB though, he got out at just the wrong time for his team and could not take them past 200.
Sarfaraz Khan – 3/10
In spite of being retained by RCB, Sarfaraz could not make the most out of that opportunity and failed to make much of an impression.
Mandeep Singh – 7/10
Mandy played a fine hand at the death for RCB, as he was responsible to take his team past 176.
Chris Woakes – 6/10
The Englishman was pretty decent with the ball tonight, as he picked up three wickets but unfortunately could not stem the flow of runs from the KKR batsmen.
Washington Sundar – 4/10
Sundar was deeply dissapointing, as the off-spinner could not perform to the level that we have come to expect from him.
Kulwant Khejroliya – 4/10
The youngster showed good pace and promise, and could become a wonderful addition to the RCB side this season.
Umesh Yadav – 7/10
RCB’s best bowler, Yadav showed the pace and passion that Kohli needed from all his bowlers. Expect the Indian pacer to have a very big IPL season.
Yuzvendra Chahal – 4/10
A disappointing outing from RCB’s premier spinner, as Kohli will expect a lot more from the talented leg spinner.
