Royal Challengers Bangalore on Wednesday registered their first IPL match after they beat Kolkata Knight Riders in a low-scoring match.
Batting first, Shah Rukh Khan’s team were bowled out for 128 in 18.5 overs. Wanindu Hasaranga picked up four wickets in four overs by conceding just 20 runs for the RCB.
The run chase by the RCB did not start on a promising note as they kept losing wickets at a regular interval. Reduced to 111-7, the RCB needed 16 runs in the last two overs to win. What helped their cause was the unavailability of a recognised bowler for the KKR. KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer had no option but let Andre Russel, who had proven to be extremely expensive today, bowl the last over of the match. It took just two balls for Dinesh Karthik to hit Russel for a six and a boundary as the RCB pulled off a thrilling three-wicket victory.
Umesh Yadav and Tim Southee picked up two and three wickets respectively.
Reacting to the game, Iyer said, “I really found this game exciting. Before getting in, I spoke with my boys and told them that this game is going to define our character and attitude on the field whether we defend or not. I am really proud of the way we played this game and took it till the last over. Kudos to their batsmen, they played really well out in the middle, they took out the toughest phase as soon as possible. We are going to come back with the same mindset, we are not going to chicken out. That’s what we want to focus on and that’s what we spoke about coming into the tournament that we’ll be someone who’d be taking risks.”
Royal Challengers Bangalore skipper Faf du Plessis said, “Very happy, small margin games are very important at the start. Small score, we just tried to be positive but very good bowling from their seamers. The runs were never a problem, we just needed to have wickets in hand. DK is as close as it gets to MS Dhoni when it comes to being ice cool.”
Wanindu Hasaranga was declared the Player of the Match.