Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders - Match 28

So, a one-sided entertainer it was, with Bangalore trumping over Kolkata comfortably. 28 matches done, 28 more to go before the league stage of the tournament wraps up and the knockout stage takes over. On Tuesday, 13th October 2020, David Warner's Hyderabad take on MS Dhoni's Chennai, the first repeat fixture in this edition. Round 1 went to Hyderabad. Which way will Round 2 go? The match starts at 1800 Local (1400 GMT) but join us well before for the build-up. Until then, take care and good night. 

AB de Villiers is the MAN OF THE MATCH. Says that he is happy with his performance. Admits that he felt terrible after a duck in the last game but is happy that he contributed here. To be honest, AB says that he knew 145-150 was not going to be enough, so he was aiming for something higher. In the end, they got close to 200, he admits. Adds that keeping the energy going is really difficult. De Villiers states that he is really enjoying keeping and is really excited to don the gloves again. Feels that there is a different perspective that one has as a keeper. Says that he worked really, really hard and has always had that attitude of trying to be the best.

Virat Kohli, the VICTORIOUS BANGALORE SKIPPER, says that it was a great victory against a good side in the League. Says that the bowling attack looks a lot more potent with Morris coming back in and Chahal playing the way he does. States that it is not the usual Sharjah pitch. The talk was to get around 160 but they got 194 in the end. Says that the preparation was really good. Kohli says the 3-3.5 week camp helped. The coaches did well. Adds that the mindset and the intensity this time around is really positive. Says that if the bowling unit is strong, one can do really well. On de Villiers, Kohli says that he hit the ball so beautifully. On a pitch like that, to bat like that, only AB can do like that, he reckons. Bangalore got to 195 after just thinking 160-165 purely because of AB's genes, says Kohli. The skipper further feels that this momentum needs to be taken forward and needs to be sustained. Says that it is easy to lose focus and steam and that it is important to maintain it.

Washington Sundar is up for a chat as well. Sundar says that it is a nice win and that he and Chahal bowled well. Says that in the middle phase of the tournament there will be assistance for the bowlers and that he and Chahal capitalized on that. Adds that he has been working on a consistent length and does not want to work on too much. Jokingly says that he does not have to bowl to AB de Villiers but was a little nervy that he had to bowl to Andre Russell in this game. On being asked about playing under Virat Kohli, Sundar says that he has learned a lot from Kohli and it has been a good 3 years under him. Finishes by saying that there is a lot to learn in the tournament still. 

Dinesh Karthik, Kolkata's captain, on being asked about how to stop AB de Villiers, says that the only ball is the perfect inswinging yorker. If the batsman misses it, it hits the stumps. Says that the team needs to sit down and discuss the few things that need to be done better. He observes that there are a few days before their next game and so they can ponder. States that the Indian T20 League is a very difficult tournament and the teams that persist manage to pull it off. Karthik adds that there are days where things go off well, then there are days where they do not go off well.

Earlier, after winning the toss, Kohli made it clear that he wanted to bat first. Their openers got them to a decent start but the pedestal for the innings was set by the de Villiers-Kohli partnership. In fact, more so by the former's blitzkrieg. It got Bangalore to 194/2 at the end of their 20 overs. And their bowlers complemented it outstandingly well. A big 82-run win in the end. Stay tuned for the presentation.

Bangalore's bowlers were top-notch with the ball. They complemented the batsmen really well. Excellent fielding from Kohli's men as well, save the lone drop from Padikkal of Russell at long off. Everyone finds a mention in the wickets column. Chahal, Morris and Sundar were absolutely phenomenal. Udana, who came in late, managed a wicket, but was on the expensive side. But it does not matter when the victory margin was this huge.

Andre Russell capitalized on the dropped catch from Padikkal and landed a couple of blows. But just a couple of fours and a lone six is what he could manage. 16 from 10 balls and he was back in the hut. Too much for the big man himself though. Tripathi, languishing again, lower down the order could not do much. The asking rate was too much, too improbable. In the end, Kolkata did manage to prevent themselves from getting bowled out. But that hardly matters in such a tournament, as MS Dhoni himself said, in his last chat after Chennai's loss. Better to get out playing the glory shots rather than seeing yourselves safe in a chase by playing till the end, for nothing. 

Kolkata suffered an early blow in the demanding chase. Banton, coming in his first game this edition, fell to Saini for just 8 runs. Just as a partnership was building between Gill and Rana, the latter fell. Kolkata were 51/2 at the end of 8 overs then. Gill, Karthik and Morgan, all followed in quick succession and it looked almost done and dusted for Kolkata. Except...Russell was still there!

An excellent finish for Bangalore. A huge win, 82 runs. The batsmen were exceptional early on and the bowlers have done their job to perfection, restricting Kolkata to 112/9. A big, big win for Kohli's men. Will give them good momentum which the skipper was seeking, given the slew of games that they play in the coming week. 

Prasidh Krishna is the only batsman left. Isuru Udana will bowl the only over left.

Is that a catch by Super V? Virat Kohli is not sure. The umpires refer it upstairs and the soft signal is out. Pretty difficult to say. Because the ball seems to be dangling onto his palms but also looks to be touching the ground. There isn't any conclusive angle and the third umpire is not sure. Ahhh... we have one angle. We can see some part of the ball touching the ground. NOT OUT is the decision.

Varun Chakravarthy walks out at number 10, to try and help Kolkata reduce their defeat margin.

Mohammed Siraj returns. 2-0-20-0 so far.

Time for chess. Here comes the spin wizard to bowl out. 3-0-8-1 for Yuzvendra Chahal so far.

Who is next? Kamlesh Nagarkoti? Yes.

Monday evening will witness the clash between Bangalore and Kolkata in Sharjah. Both teams achieved victories in their last outing and will be pumped with confidence. Kolkata's win was an unlikely one as they stole it from nowhere whereas Bangalore put up a clinical show to outclass Chennai. The batting of both teams has started to come good and it's their bowling which needs continuous progress, especially for Kolkata. Just like Kohli, Karthik also struck good form finally and that will strengthen Kolkata's batting who will be sweating over Russell's fitness. Bangalore will be hoping to keep up the good work in their first match this season in Sharjah. The pitch there of late has started to aid the bowlers and it's offering a fair battlefield. Who will prevail?

Royal Challengers Bangalore Team Squad -Aaron Finch,Devdutt Padikkal,Gurkeerat Singh Mann,Pavan Deshpande,Virat Kohli,Chris Morris,Moeen Ali,Shahbaz Ahmed,Shivam Dube,Washington Sundar,AB de Villiers,Josh Philippe,Parthiv Patel,Adam Zampa,Dale Steyn,Isuru Udana,Mohammed Siraj,Navdeep Saini,Pawan Negi,Umesh Yadav,Yuzvendra Chahal

Kolkata Knight Riders Team Squad -Eoin Morgan,Nitish Rana,Rahul Tripathi,Rinku Singh,Shubman Gill,Siddhesh Lad,Tom Banton,Andre Russell,Sunil Narine,Dinesh Karthik,Nikhil Naik,Ali Khan,Chris Green,Kamlesh Nagarkoti,Kuldeep Yadav,Lockie Ferguson,Manimaran Siddharth,Pat Cummins,Prasidh Krishna,Sandeep Warrier,Shivam Mavi,Varun Chakravarthy