Kolkata, April 21 Captain Shreyas Iyer struck a 36-ball fifty, also his first half-century in IPL since May 2022, while Phil Salt and Ramandeep Singh smashed quick cameos in propelling Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to a massive 222/6 in 20 overs against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the Eden Gardens here on Sunday.
Iyer smashed seven fours and a six to be the top run-scorer for KKR, while Salt sizzled with a 14-ball 48 and Ramandeep produced fireworks in the end with an unbeaten 24 off just nine balls to get the 16th 200+ total of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024.
For RCB, Cameron Green and Yash Dayal took two wickets each, while Lockie Ferguson and Mohammed Siraj had a scalp apiece, though they were expensive in conceding 73 runs off the last five overs.
Electing to bowl first, RCB didn’t have an ideal start as Salt swivelled Mohammed Siraj’s short balls for a six and four respectively. With Sunil Narine kept quiet by a yorker plan from Siraj and Dayal, Salt continued to deal in boundaries -– taking back-to-back fours off the latter, before hitting four boundaries and two sixes off Ferguson in the fourth over yielding 28 runs.
Salt could have taken the record for the fastest half-century of IPL 2024, but was caught at deep mid-wicket in the pursuit of going for another boundary off Siraj, falling after hitting seven fours and three sixes.
In the next over, Narine fell after lofting a slower ball from Dayal to long-off. RCB ended the Power-play with a back-pedaling Green taking a one-handed leaping catch at mid-wicket to give Dayal the wicket of Angkrish Raghuvanshi.
Post that, RCB brought out a slowdown on KKR’s batters, though Iyer kept the scoreboard ticking with occasional boundaries. After Venkatesh Iyer pulled to the deep off Green, the all-rounder kept Rinku Singh quiet with his short balls. Rinku would break free by lofting to get three boundaries, before heaving off the glove to fine-leg a slower ball from Ferguson.
Iyer reverse swept Karn for a boundary before he and Andre Russell took 23 runs off Dayal in the 17th over to get his fifty in 23 balls. Shortly after, Iyer went for a loft off Green but was caught by long-off diving across to his left.
Ramandeep smashed Siraj for two sixes and a four in the 19th over before he and Russell hit three fours collectively off Dayal in the final over as KKR went past the 220-mark.
Brief scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders 222/6 in 20 overs (Shreyas Iyer 50, Phil Salt 48; Cameron Green 2-35, Yash Dayal 2-56) against Royal Challengers Bengaluru.
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