Virat Kohli Shines But KKR Dominated RCB To End Home Team’s Winning Streak In IPL 2024
Despite a brilliant unbeaten 83 by Virat Kohli for RCB, KKR secured a seven-wicket win with 19 balls to spare.
In the IPL 2024, it took ten games for the opposing team to win. Even yet, it was perhaps expected that it would occur at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, where the short field actually works to the chasing team’s advantage. That was on Friday, when the Kolkata Knight Riders triumphed against a masterpiece from Virat Kohli to chase down 183 and take the two points.
![Virat Kohli Shines But KKR Dominated RCB To End Home Team’s Winning Streak In IPL 2024](https://sprtu.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/NArine-1-copy-1024x683.jpg)
Royal Challengers Bengaluru 182 for 6 (Kohli 83*, Russell 2-29, Rana 2-39) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 186 for 3 (Venkatesh 50, Narine 47) by seven wickets.
Narine Show In His 500th T20 Game
In recent years, there had been issues with KKR’s opening partnership. But they used it to win this match. In addition to the field limitations, they had to reach a large portion of their objective inside the first six overs because that is when the ball is fresh and hard and hits the bat. As it grew softer and older, going into the wicket and taking pace off became incredibly beneficial, as demonstrated by RCB’s innings thus far. It worked well for Andre Russell (2-29) and Harshit Rana (2-39).
KKR’s strategy remains the same regardless of the venue they play in, though, as they consistently deploy Sunil Narine at the top, allowing him to play those 30 off 10 cameos. On his 500th T20, he exceeded expectations by making 47 off of 22. Phil Salt also caused a lot of harm. It was very nearly his last IPL season. KKR finished the powerplay with an 85 for 0. With 100% of their wickets still in hand, they had already eliminated nearly 50% of their goal in just 30% of the overs.
Venkatesh Iyer raised a half-century on that platform, and Shreyas Iyer made sure he stayed there till the very end, which arrived as early as the 17th over. It exposed RCB’s mismatched lineup of elite hitters and unskilled bowlers. Yash Dayal (11.5) was the most economical of their three regular bowlers.
Kohli Goes Big
He declared, “I’ve still got it,” but then realized he needed to tone it down a little bit because he was being seen by millions of people. “I guess.”
Despite Kohli’s repeated insistence that he has nothing to prove, it appears that there has been discussion on his T20 cricket batting style. Kohli made this statement after the conclusion of RCB’s most recent game.
Talk from the outside usually doesn’t agitate cricketers. Even though it’s difficult, people spend their entire lives ignoring that since it’s white noise.
According to Kohli, there seems to be some inside input from the Indian squad regarding how they want him to conduct himself. His performance in this IPL has shown a shift in his style of play. This IPL has evolved into somewhat of a showcase for players vying to qualify for the T20 World Cup in June.
A limited-overs run machine who sets out to play the entire innings, a formerly risk-averse batsman is now willing to accept a lower price for his wicket. And he’s been hitting the ball in the air far more often than he used to do it. This is based on information gathered starting in the 2014 season. It does tell a story, actually.
Also Read: Andy Flower’s Mission to End RCB’s Title Drought
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It’s no secret that Kohli is one of the fastest bowlers in the game of cricket. With three fours and two sixes, he tormented Mitchell Starc for 33 in just 17 deliveries. It became clear that he was displaying the same level of intent while facing slow bowlers. After hitting Narine for just one six in 106 deliveries during the whole IPL, on Friday, Kohli struck the mystery spinner out of the Chinnaswamy with the fifth delivery. During this aggressiveness, he overtook Chris Gayle (239) as the most consistent six-hitter for the RCB (241).
The Home Disadvantage
During the post-match presentation, Faf du Plessis stated that although the RCB attempted to apply the lesson they had learned from the first innings—namely, that slower balls were sticking in the surface—they were hindered by the dew that had settled in. The leading scorer for KKR, Venkatesh, stated that batting became simpler, at least from one end. How simple is it?
Even though RCB and KKR bowled 21 and 22 slower balls respectively, RCB still lost 13.42 an over while KKR managed to get by with an economy rate of 5.45. Russell was especially difficult to strike since he could run anywhere from 150 kph to only 110 kph. Where’s an opposition meant to go when he does the Narine job and Narine does the Russell job? KKR appears to be a formidable team this year.