Narine sets up Kolkata victory
Sunil Narine's 17-ball half-century and Nitish Rana's allround show helped Kolkata Knight Riders win its season opener at home, beating Royal Challengers Bangalore by four wickets on Sunday.
Under cloudy skies and asked to bat first, Brendon McCullum (43) and A B de Villiers (44) propelled Bangalore to a above-par total at Eden Gardens, but Narine's blitz neutralised both those knocks and Kolkata's middle-order cruised to a comfortable win thereafter.
Bangalore could've made much more than its eventual total of 176 for seven, especially after being positioned at 127 for two after 14.1 overs, but a one-over special from part-time off-spinner Nitish Rana - who took the wickets of de Villiers and Virat Kohli off consecutive balls - gave the hosts the advantage towards the end of the first innings.
After Narine fell for 50 in the sixth over, the hosts wobbled slightly as Umesh Yadav - a former Knight Rider himself - removed both Narine and Robin Uthappa off consecutive overs, but Dinesh Karthik (35 not out), Rana (34) and Andre Russell (15) maintained composure with the bat to chase down the target of 177 with seven balls to spare and extend the domination of teams opting to chase in Kolkata.
Kohli tried to be brave when he threw the new ball to Yuzvendra Chahal, but Narine wasted no time and set the tempo with a four and a six off the first two balls. He lost Chris Lynn’s company in the next over but didn’t stop toying with the bowling, punishing anything in his zone. Narine smacked 20 runs off an over from Chris Woakes and followed it up with a 19-run over off Washington Sundar as he blitzed his way to a 17-ball 50, taking Kolkata to 65 in five overs.
Earlier, Bangalore got off to a mixed start. McCullum took 14 runs off Vinay Kumar’s first over but Quinton de Kock threw it away at the other end when he reverse-scooped Piyush Chawla to short third-man in the next.
That set the tone for a barrage of spin as Chawla and Kuldeep Yadav bowled five of the six powerplay overs. It helped keep Kohli quiet, but McCullum still kept the board ticking with the odd boundary. McCullum raced into the 40s before a slow turner from Narine went past his bat to the stumps in the ninth over.
Kohli’s struggle to find his timing continued but de Villiers had no such worries. He took charge immediately, launching Kuldeep for two sixes. A six each off Narine and Mitchell Johnson followed, sending ominous signs for Kolkata. It required a massive stroke of bravery – or luck – to stop de Villiers. Karthik took a big gamble by giving the ball to Rana, and the move seemed to backfire when de Villiers smashed him for a six first ball. However, he ended up miscuing to long-on next ball to fall for a 23-ball 44. Rana, the off-spinner, extended the dream by getting Kohli with a yorker next ball.
From 127 for four in the 15th over, Bangalore suffered a dip in scoring rate after the twin strike. Sarfaraz Khan failed to get going, but Mandeep Singh played a handy cameo of 37 (18 balls) to lift Bangalore past 175.