IPL 2018: KKR vs RCB: 3 key points from the match

The two-time champion Kolkata Knight Riders faced the dynamic Royal Challengers Bangalore at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata in the 3rd match of the ongoing IPL. Knight Riders won the toss and asked the visitors to bat first on a hard wicket.

The Virat Kohli led side managed to score 176/7 courtesy to De Villiers' aggressive 44 off 23 balls and Brendon Mccullum's 43 off 27 balls. The Knight Riders' spinners bowled well but the star of the bowling was Nitish Rana who picked up AB Devilliers and Virat Kohli (31 off 33 balls) off two successive deliveries.

Chasing a target of 177, KKR started off on a high note with Sunil Narine charging from the very first ball and eventually scoring 50 off just 17 balls. Handy contributions from Nitish Rana (34 off 25 balls) and skipper Dinesh Karthik (35 off 29 balls) ensured that the Kolkata based franchise begin their journey in this season on a positive note.

Being the first high scoring encounter of the season, let us look at the three key important points from the match.

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#3 RCB need to find answers to their worries

RCB needs to figure out their best XI

Over last decade, RCB have always been looking for that perfect combination which may lead them to glory. While their batting lineup is arguably the best in the tournament, a lot of questions have been raised on their bowling department. Until last year, they were heavily relying on Virat Kohli and AB Devilliers to score the lion’s share of their runs. But they failed to defend them.

Going by the first match of this season it seems they are yet to figure out the remedies. A score of 176 was defendable on the Eden Gardens' tracks but the Virat Kohli led side were running short of a prominent 5th bowler. It seemed they were playing with a bowler less. The only stand out performer was Umesh Yadav. The former Knight Riders ‘Vidarbha Express’ clocked 145 kph regularly and troubled the KKR batsmen with his raw pace and variations of short balls. He ended up with an impressive figure of 2/27 off his 4 overs.

Another aspect they would have to look into is their bowling is discipline. Last night they went for 10 wide deliveries and that by standards of T20 is itself alarming. If they look to further strengthen their batting, they can go with Parthiv Patel at the top of the order replacing Quinton De Kock and an in-form all-rounder like Colin de Grandhomme to fit down the order.

Also, last night was an encounter to forget for young Washington Sundar and Yuzvendra Chahal. While Sundar finished with 1 wicket for 48 runs, Chahal couldn’t finish his entire spell and gave away 29 runs off his 3 overs.

RCB need to figure out their best possible combination as soon as possible. With a lot of important matches lined up, players like Chris Woakes, Chahal and Sundar need to step up learning from their mistakes to lead their team to glory.

#2 Impressive Dinesh Karthik and Narine show continues

DK impressed everyone with his captaincy while the Narine show continues

The match also marked the new era of the Kolkata Knight Riders under their new leader Dinesh Karthik who has been in the form of his life for the last few months. In his debut match as skipper, he impressed the pundits as well as the fans. He was calm, always communicating with his bowlers and rotated his bowling options according to the situation.

His best moment of impromptu decisions came when he introduced the part-time off-spinner Nitish Rana into the attack against the aggressive duo of Virat Kohli and AB Devilliers. Both started shifting gears and were going at around 14 runs per over. But Karthik’s instinctive decision paid off instantly and Rana scalped both of them in successive deliveries. Those two quick wickets changed the complexion of the game and the Royal Challengers’ were short of around 20 runs at the end.

During batting, he held his nerves, took calculated risks and anchored his team home. It will be too early to compare him with the legacy left behind by Gautam Gambhir but he can prove to be the right man to keep things forward.

Another man to talk about from the match was Sunil Narine. Last year, the fans witnessed the rise of Sunil Narine as a power hitting batsman at the top of the order when he registered the then fastest 50 of the IPL.

Yesterday also he started from where he had left off. He started hitting boundaries from the very first ball and was ruthless against all the bowlers, especially Chahal and Sundar. In the process, he became the only batsman to score two fifties within 17 deliveries. Bowling an economical spell was always his forte, but with fearless shots in his armoury, he will be the key to the Knights in this IPL at the top of the order.

#1 KKR look stronger as a team on the field than on paper

Rana along with other young Knights can contribute to making KKR title contenders

In this year’s auction, KKR surprised everyone as they spent huge money on young and local unknown talents. They went all out with money for Chris Lynn and Mitchell Starc to cover all their bases and relied on their trusted generals from previous seasons to lead them to their 3rd title. Like other squads, they might be lacking big names who can change the complexion single-handedly, but, as an integrated unit, they look really a formidable side on the field.

The Knights have Narine and Lynn hitting at the top of the order while Uthappa has the role of anchoring the innings like Gautam Gambhir. They have a calm middle order line up in young Nitish Rana and skipper Dinesh Karthik followed by some serious power hitters like Rinku Singh and Andre Russell down the order.

Russell was economical with the ball and gave only 10 runs in his 2 overs. They have some of the best spinners of the tournament in Narine, Piyush Chawla and the chinaman Kuldeep Yadav who dried the scoring rate and picked up crucial wickets of De Kock and Mccullum.

The only area of concern for them is the pace bowling as the RCB batsmen squeezed 60 runs from 6 overs of seasoned Vinay Kumar and veteran Mitchell Johnson. They would not like to leak easy runs in the power play and death overs.

The Shahrukh Khan-owned side may try for Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Shubhman Gill in place of Vinay Kumar and Rinku Singh to bring on more stability to their squad. Although they seemed to have quite an inexperienced team on paper and there is a long way to go in the tournament, they can still kindle hopes to be title contenders among the fans.