In the first leg of IPL 2021, Kolkata Knight Riders couldn’t find their feet as they won only two out of seven games. However, Eoin Morgan’s men have started the UAE leg on a handsome note. On Monday, September 16, the Knights beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore by nine wickets at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi and moved up to fifth in the points table.
Kohli’s men strained in their batting as they were bowled out for 92 in 19 overs. Prasidh Krishna struck first blood, getting rid of Kohli in his very first over. Devdutt Padikkal and KS Bharat played their shots and stitched together a 31-run stand. But both got out in pretty quick succession.
Glenn Maxwell laboured his way to 10 before Varun Chakravarthy got rid of him. Andre Russell struck the body blow, getting rid of AB de Villiers for a golden duck. Wanindu Hasaranga, on IPL debut, couldn’t open his account either. Sachin Baby had a tough time in the middle as well.
The Knights didn’t show any signs of nerve in their run-chase. They chased down the target in 10 overs. Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer put on 82 runs for the opening wicket off 55 balls. Iyer made his IPL debut and stayed unbeaten on 41 runs off 27 balls with seven fours and one six.
Gill didn’t get a lot of runs in India during the first leg of IPL 2021, but he came back to form. He went on to score 48 runs off 34 balls with the help of six fours and one six. Iyer looked in full flow as he stayed unbeaten on a 27-ball 41 with seven fours and one six.
IPL 2021: KKR vs RCB – Who won the Man of the Match award?
Varun Chakravarthy got the Player of the Match award for his spell of 4-0-13-3. The off-spinner bowled 15 dot balls and didn’t let the RCB batters settle down. He opened his account with the prized wicket of Glenn Maxwell. Thereafter, he sent back Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga. The tweaker then sent back Varun Chakravarthy and reduced the Challengers to 66 for seven.
