Bengaluru (Karnataka) [India], March 30 : Former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson came out in wholesome praise of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) openers Philip Salt and Sunil Narine for their brutal assault on the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) attack on Friday, saying they played "really good cricket shots" in the first three overs during the stiff run chase.
Speaking exclusively to JioCinema, Watson said Salt and Narine's swashbukling stand in the first three overs of the second innings induced mistakes from RCB bowlers while deflating their hopes of defending the target.
Salt and Narine got KKR off to a flier in the chase of 187, raising an explosive opening stand of 86.
The Caribbean mystery spinner, who plays the role of an enforcer for the Kolkata franchise at the top of the order, creamed 47 runs off 22 balls at a strike rate of 213.64. Salt stroked a typically belligerent 30 off 20 balls at a strike rate of 150.
The 42-year-old Aussie, who is one of the commentators for the ongoing IPL edition, added that the RCB bowlers altered their lines and resorted to variations in the face of the assault from the KKR openers, enabling the rival batters to score heavily in the powerplay overs.
"Those first three overs, they were all really good cricket shots, really good balls at the top of the stumps. But because of Philip Salt, in particular, the first couple of boundaries he hit and then the errors started to come from the bowlers, and they started to change their pace and get a little bit too full. That's when they could capitalise even more at the end of the powerplay... For an opposition bowling attack, when your best balls are still going to the boundary, that's when you're under serious pressure. That shows the calibre of Philip Salt to start things off with and then Sunil Narine, who put his foot down when he needed to," Watson was quoted as saying in a release by JioCinema.
In a match that was preceded by a kiss-and-makeup moment between RCB's batting talisman Virat Kohli and the Knights' mentor Gautam Gambhir, after the much-publicised bust-up on field in the last season, KKR won the toss and opted to field.
After losing skipper Faf De Plessis early, Virat carried the RCB innings forward in the company of Cameron Green (33 in 21 balls, with four boundaries and two sixes). The duo raised a stand of 65 runs for the second wicket.
The former India all-format skipper was, thereafter, involved in another enterprising 42-run partnership with Glenn Maxwell (28 in 19 balls, with three fours and a six). Virat came good yet again for the Challengers, scoring an exquisite 83* off 59 balls, with four boundaries and as many sixes.
In the company of Dinesh Karthik, who came up with a cameo of 20* off 8 balls with three sixes, Kohli took RCB to 182/6 in their 20 overs.
However, making a mockery of what was a tricky chase, Phil Salt (30 in 20 balls, with two fours and two sixes) and Sunil Narine (47 in 22 balls, with two fours and five sixes) put KKR firmly on course to victory with a quickfire 86-run stand off just 39 balls. After Vyshak and Mayank Dagar dismissed the openers, Venkatesh Iyer (50* in 30 balls, with three fours and four sixes) and skipper Shreyas Iyer (39 in 24 balls, with two fours and two sixes) to KKR past the finish line with 19 balls still left to play.
The defeat saw RCB drop to sixth in the points table with a win and two losses. They have just two points on the board while the KKR is in second spot with two wins in two games, with four points.
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