Abu Dhabi: Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) beat Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 8 wickets in 39th match of the Indian Premier League 2020 at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Wednesday.
KKR skipper Eoin Morgan opting to bat first on winning the toss, backfired as the side fell like a pack of cards to end up with a paltry 84 for eight in their 20 overs. KKR thus touched a new low of putting up the lowest-ever IPL score by a side without being dismissed.
Opting to bat first, Kolkata got off to a disastrous start, losing 4 wickets for 14 runs. Shubman Gill (1 off 6 balls), Rahul Tripathi (1 off 5 balls), Nitish Rana (0 off 1 ball) and Tom Benton (10 off 8 balls) returned to the pavilion early. Captain Eoin Morgan scored the highest 30 runs off 34 balls for the team. Mohammad Siraj took wickets of Rahul and Nitish for two consecutive balls in the second over of the innings. Mohammad Siraj took 3 wickets and Yuzvendra Chahal took 2 wickets for RCB. For the first time in the IPL, KKR has scored the smallest score of 84 runs after batting 20 overs.
In reply, it was a cakewalk for RCB as they chased down the 85-run target with as many 6.5 overs to spare. RCB openers Devdutt Padikkal (25 off 17 balls) and Aaron Finch (16 off 21 balls) got their team off to a steady start with a 46-run stand for the first wicket before skipper Kohli (18 not out off 17 balls) and Gurkeerat Singh Mann (21 not out off 26 balls) added an unbeaten stand of 59 runs to seal a comfortable win for the team.
With the thumping win, RCB moved to the 2nd spot on the table with the same number of points as table-toppers Delhi Capitals. Both RCB and DC have 14 points each after ten games and are separated on the points table by the difference in the net run rate.