‘˜Catches do win matches’ and so it was when Kolkata Knight Riders staged a dramatic fightback to pull off a two-run win over super favourites Royal Challengers Bangalore in a thrilling last-ball finish at the Indian Premier League tie.
If one thought IPL is not producing entertainment anymore well, this one proved those critics wrong. ‘Catches do win matches’ and so it was when Kolkata Knight Riders staged a dramatic fightback to pull off a two-run win over super favourites Royal Challengers Bangalore in a thrilling last-ball finish at the Indian Premier League tie.
Chasing a paltry total of 151, RCB fell short of the target when an airborne Chris Lynn stretched his body backwards to pull off one of the finest catches one will ever see to dismiss the dangerous A B de Villiers. Needing nine off the final over, the men in red could muster up only seven runs, largely thanks to the brilliant piece of death bowling by R Vinay Kumar.
During the run-chase, Bangalore started off well with Yogesh Takawale (40) and Parthiv Patel (21) dealing in boundaries. But as the runs were leaking, Gautam Gambhir introduced his ‘trump card’, Sunil Narine who kept the runs at bay for a while. While wickets kept tumbling, RCB skipper Virat Kohli (31) delivered few lusty blows and soon it was all looking merry for the Bangalore side. Virat found a good partner in Yuvraj Singh who brought the equation down by a few runs after he clobbered Umesh Yadav for a six into the midwicket stands. But soon, the duo departed and it was all too late for the Royal Challengers.
Earlier in the day, KKR recovered to score 150 for seven after RCB pacer Varun Aaron walked away with the figures of 3 for 16 runs. For KKR, it was Chris Lynn (45) and Jacques Kallis (43) who managed to get some runs in the late overs. Sent into bat, Kolkata were off to another devastating start, when skipper Gautam Gambhir was out for a duck for the third straight time in the ongoing IPL 7.
Scorecard:
Kolkata Knight Riders 150 for 7 (Lynn 45, Kallis 43, Aaron 3-16) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore 148 for 5 (Takawale 40) by two runs
