SCOREBOARD
ROYAL CHALLENGERS
Virat Kohli c Samad b Unadkat 51
(43b, 4x4, 1x6), Faf du Plessis c Markram b Natarajan 25 (12b, 3x4, 1x6), Will Jacks b Markande 6
(9b), Rajat Patidar c Samad b Unadkat 50 (20b, 2x4, 5x6), Cameron Green (not out) 37 (20b, 5x4), Mahipal Lomror c Cummins b Unadkat 7 (4b, 1x4), Dinesh Karthik c Samad b Cummins 11 (6b, 2x4), Swapnil Singh (Impact Player in place of Patidar) c Abhishek b Natarajan 12 (6b, 1x4, 1x6); Extras (lb-2, w-5): 7; Total (for seven wkts. in 20 overs): 206.
FALL OF WICKETS
1-48 (du Plessis, 3.5 overs), 2-65 (Jacks, 6.6), 3-130 (Patidar, 12.4), 4-140 (Kohli, 14.5), 5-161 (Lomror, 16.3), 6-193 (Karthik, 18.5), 7-206 (Swapnil, 19.6).
SUNRISERS BOWLING
Abhishek 1-0-10-0, Bhuvneshwar 1-0-14-0, Cummins 4-0-55-1, Natarajan 4-0-39-2, Shahbaz 3-0-14-0, Markande 3-0-42-1, Unadkat 4-0-30-3.
Toss: RCB.
Salt has been in blazing form this season.
Kolkata Knight Riders will hope for another positive result at home to strengthen its position in the league table when it meets Punjab Kings at the Eden Gardens here on Friday.
Currently second with 10 points, KKR has a fairly good success rate, having won ve of its seven matches. This is largely because of the e§ciency of its batting, which has been amassing scores of above 200 regularly.
KKR will be playing its fourth consecutive game at home, where it has won two and lost one in the three previous appearances.
The last match saw 443 runs being scored as the
host edged out Royal Challengers Bengaluru by the narrowest of margins — one run.
The KKR top-order has been in good form with the likes of Sunil Narine (286), Phil Salt (249), skipper Shreyas Iyer (190) and Andre Russell (155) contributing. Despite a huge investment, the bowlers have not been able to reach the level expected of them even with the presence of Mitchell Starc, who was bought for a record amount of ¨24.75 crore.
For the ninth-placed Kings, the journey so far has been far from satisfactory. The team lost its last four matches in a total of six defeats in eight games. It will hope to turn things around by outshining the home side.