IPL 2024, RCB vs KKR: Kohli's slow innings, poor bowling cost RCB hard in home game

IPL 2024, KKR vs RCB: Virat Kohli's slow innings, poor bowling cost Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) hard in home game. Top takeaways from RCB vs KKR, Bengaluru game.

IPL 2024: Virat Kohli scored 83 off 59 balls against KKR (Images: ©IPL/X)

The way Sunil Narine was smashing the ball in all pockets of the ground guided one back to the 2017 season at the Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) raced away to 105/0 in that powerplay; this evening, they reached 85/0 thanks to Narine’s 20-ball 47 inside the first six overs.

Knight Riders captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to bowl first. Virat Kohli, the current ‘Orange Cap’ holder with 181 runs in three innings, stood at one end for his unbeaten 83 runs in 59 balls. Other batters smacked the ball for their tiny knocks to propel Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) to 182/6 in 20 overs. 

The 86-run opening onslaught from Narine and Phil Salt put KKR so much in front of the chase, as the required run rate came down to seven. Venkatesh Iyer kept the momentum going with his 30-ball 50-run knock to help them secure a seven-wicket comfortable victory with 19 balls in hand. It also becomes the first away win for a team in this season. 

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Brief Scores: KKR 186/3 (Venkatesh 50, Narine 47, Vyshak 1/23) beat RCB 182/6 (Kohli 83*, Russell 2/29) by 7-wkts. 

Player of the Match: Sunil Narine (47 runs in 22 balls)

Key Takeaways from RCB vs KKR, Match 10, IPL 2024

KKR’s superb bowling calmed down RCB after the powerplay

Bengaluru had a fantastic start in the powerplay with 61/1. But since then, Kolkata changed its plan to keep the run rate in check. In the next five overs, the home side could make only 26 runs at a run rate of just 5.2 with the loss of Cameron Green. 

Glenn Maxwell received two golden chances thanks to KKR’s poor fielding with dropped catches. But he still couldn’t hit the ball sweetly. It’s the last four overs where the batting side generally goes all-out to maximize their runs. However, from the 16th over to the 18th over, RCB could manage only 19 runs, including two more damages. 

The Knight Riders were excellent with their back-of-the-length deliveries in the middle overs. They slowed the pace and varied their length, making it tough for the batters to go for the big shots. Even the spinners kept it tight in patches to break the rhythm. 

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Kohli’s slow innings of 59-ball 83* hurt RCB

The bottom line says Virat Kohli stayed till the end for his 59-ball 83-run knock to guide Bengaluru for a formidable score of 182. However, he slowed down drastically since the powerplay overs ended. 

Kohli began on a positive note with 26 of his first 15 balls. However, he didn’t get much strike during the fifth and sixth over of the first innings. He ended the powerplay with an individual score of 28* in 18 balls. 

In the next four overs, Kohli made 14 runs in 13 balls, with a six whacked over deep mid-wicket against Narine. From over number 10 to 15, he could manage only 20 more runs in the next 12 balls. The new batter- Glenn Maxwell, wasn’t getting his time right, as was the set batter, Kohli, from the other end. 

The ‘chase master’ was on 62 in 43 balls at the end of 15 overs. Out of the last 30 balls, Kohli nailed 16 to collect just 21 runs. For a batter familiar with the pace of the surface, his slow innings hurt RCB at the end. Only Dinesh Karthik’s unbeaten 20 runs in eight balls fired their score over the 180 mark. 

Read More: IPL 2024: How RCB may address their bowling concerns

Sunil Narine scored 47 runs off 22 balls against RCB (Images: ©IPL/X)

RCB’s old weakness of bowling short and without planning

The familiar weakness of Narine is going at his head. There have been times when the ‘pinch hitter’ has been dismissed in this fashion, but he has scored many runs, too. 

The Bengaluru bowlers went short at him from the start. Narine was almost prepared to smack those deliveries on his back foot. Even Salt from the other end crunched those wide outside deliveries over the rope. 

Yash Dayal came in the fourth over and went short at Salt after two good full deliveries. The England batter smoothly found the gap between the backward point and the short third man for a smart boundary. 

Alzarri Joseph has struggled in the powerplay overs in his last two games, and he continued to leak runs with the new ball. However, his quick, short deliveries could have been used with the field being spread out.  

With two defeats in three games at the start of the season, the Royal Challengers Bengaluru finds themselves in sixth position. However, this heavy victory damaged their run rate to -0.711. They must burst more firecrackers with the bat and show planning with the ball in the upcoming games. 

IPL 2024 Points Table

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