Rejuvenated RCB eye winning momentum
kolkata — Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will look to carry forward the momentum from their last outing when they take on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in a crunch Indian Premier League (IPL) fixture here at the Eden Gardens on Sunday.
A Chris Gayle hurricane (38-ball 77) coupled with Kohli’s 50-ball 64 guided RCB to their second win of the campaign against Gujarat Lions in their previous outing.
Despite the absence of South African star AB de Villiers, the soughtafter franchise toyed with their rivals bowling posting 213 to which Brendon McCullum (72 off 44 balls) staged a good fightback but eventually fell short by 21 runs.
RCB are still languishing third from bottom in the eight-team points table losing four of their six matches. Shorn of star power initially with the likes of Kohli and de Villiers not playing the first three and two matches respectively, the three-time runners-up were also ruffled by the iffy form of Australian Shane Watson.
Since the arrival of Kohli (against Mumbai Indians) and de Villiers (against Kings XI Punjab), their batting has looked the part though both the superstars ended on the losing side in their respective opening ties. Coming back from a shoulder injury he picked while captaining India against Australia in the four-match Test series, Kohli smashed 67 in his first game, while AB announced his arrival with an unbeaten 89 off just 46 deliveries. But triumphs have been hard to come by for RCB. Besides Gujarat, RCB have won against Delhi Daredevils only. Samuel Badree’s hat-trick against Mumbai was the high point as far as their bowling is concerned. —