Watch cricket video highlights between Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Indian Premier League 2024 thirty sixth match, played at Eden Gardens.
Mitchell Starc almost failed to stop the 20 runs that he had to defend. He demonstrated in the span of six balls how tough it is to be a bowler in Twenty20 cricket and how he will always fly in the face of it. He resorted to his bread and butter after being struck for three sixes in the last over, which cut the score to three off two. He continued walking. He became enraged. And out came a wicket from him. The man who had revived this game, Karn Sharma, was no longer with us. The moment Starc made the catch, diving low to his right on the followthrough, RCB realized there would be no more miracles.
Ramandeep Singh made one up just for them. He made a terrible throw from a deep point. It was not clear or quick enough to come in. The wicketkeeper had a lot of work ahead of him. But Phil Salt was cool with it. He was quick enough to throw his entire body at the stumps and shatter it before Lockie Ferguson, who was ranked eleven, could make his ground and force a Super Over. He was also aware enough to step forward and reduce the distance the ball had to go. By one run, maybe five inches, KKR had prevailed.
RCB performed admirably in keeping Sunil Narine silent. Even while most teams are aware that they shouldn’t allow him any space, they took it a step further and abandoned all pretense in an attempt to bowl only yorkers with leg stumps. It took eight balls for the season’s top hitter for KKR to reach base. By blasting ten of the first thirteen balls to the boundary and flirting with the quickest fifty of the IPL 2024, Salt came to his rescue. He had a chance as well, but he was caught at deep midwicket after trying for a six to a delivery that was quite hittable. Nevertheless, 48 off 14 with three sixes and seven fours is not to be laughed at.
In the tenth over, Karn delivered the first ball without a boundary. Rinku Singh was being quieted by Cameron Green, who for the first six balls of their head-to-head match produced three dots and two singles. Earlier, the Australian had dismissed Angkrish Raghuvanshi by using his height to great effect—leaping up to collect a ball that was moving quickly and 8.1 meters above the ground. He was now driving slower balls into the pitch and making them fly past Rinku’s bat stroke. RCB dominated the middle overs (economy rate 8, from 12.5 in the powerplay), despite Shreyas Iyer hitting his first IPL fifty since May 2022. Ferguson gave up a boundary with each ball in his opening over, but in his following three overs, he only let up one more. He also claimed a wicket thanks to a deft usage of the knuckleball, which became large for Rinku and sapped his strength.
In the 14th over, Andre Russell had entered the field. He was still 11 off 13 with just one shot to the fence at the eighteenth hole, and he was still playing about with the bowlers. In an attempt to keep the ball outside of his striking arc, Yash Dayal sprayed an outside off that was too wide and an outside leg that was too wide, both of which beat the keeper and went for four. He had overreached, which only made things worse.
Dayal was only attempting to act morally, but this structure makes things really difficult. Shreyas let up 22 runs and two pings to the long-on boundary at the end of a 17-over, nine-ball match. Although the RCB had faith in him to finish the innings, the over ended in a 16. Once more, he made the correct decisions. went wide yorker, was smacked, and missed the mark. slowed down, but Muscle Russell managed to pull it off. recovered to put together two yorkers and a bouncer that only cost three runs, but Ramandeep ramped the final ball for four in a shrewd move. 222 KKR for six.
Furious After a long absence, Virat Kohli returned, arguing with the technology that had allowed him to throw a full toss that he was certain was over waist height. It was impossible for Faf du Plessis to stay around for very long. Once again, RCB found themselves in a similar predicament when two of their least popular players chose to take a shot. In the last over of the powerplay, Will Jacks hit Starc three sixes and a four, taking him out. The entire over demonstrated how KKR had bowled to him: slowly and in the spot. There is nothing better for a tall batter with a potent front-foot game. The RCB supporters seated at midwicket or along the stadium felt the same way.
Rajat Patidar, on the other end, settled into his groove. Ever since being benched by India during the Test match against England, he has appeared uneasy. It took some time for the hitter, who depends more on feel than technique, to regain his form, but once it did, he was dominating with a 21-ball fifty. He struck 30 off 9 against Suyash Sharma (three sixes and two fours) and 16 off 8 against Narine (two sixes).
At this stage, RCB was 77% favorites and needed 86 off 54 balls. Russell then onto the field for his first over of the evening, dismissing both of the RCB’s half-centurions. He’s a sucker puncher for someone who wants to seem like a UFC fighter. Running with great intensity. Powering through his motion just well. The shoulder that resembles a tree trunk flinging the ball across the field. However, the fingers work their magic, and suddenly a batter who was expecting to hit at 140 mph is hit at 115 mph.
That is a lesson Starc has yet to learn. Trusting his velocity and precision has been the key to his success, even throughout his time donning the opposing team’s colors in this IPL. Only eleven times this season has he tried a slower ball, according to ball-by-ball stats from ESPNcricnfo. This partly explains why, out of all bowlers in the IPL 2024, he has conceded the most boundaries—44. His thunderbolts, which in India don’t always kiss the pitch and sail through, are set up by the opposition. Occasionally, they sit up to receive a slap.
But under duress, people tend to believe in the things that have previously served them well, and money is still money. He attacked it. The sound was a low, complete throw. After carving three sixes off near yorkers, Karn positioned himself to smash it to the ground. However, he was unable to apply enough force this time. He was only able to bunt it, and Starc was quick enough to dive to his right and pull off a brilliant move. In a game full of them, that one play proved to be crucial. Keep up the pace to win. Who was aware?
Copyright – Third Party Reference Inline Linking Embedded Video from iplt20
