• RCB remain winless after Russell rampage

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    Kolkata Knight Riders clinched an impressive five-wicket victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore in Bengaluru to leave the home side winless in IPL 2019 after five matches, reports ANITHA MADIKIZELA.

    Bangalore was asked to bat first and posted a mouth-watering 205-3 at the high-scoring M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Captain Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers powered the home side’s innings, but Andre Russell was at hand once again for the Knight Riders to take the visitors over the line with five balls to spare.

    READ MORE: Gopal googlies bamboozle RCB

    Kohli came out guns blazing and combined with Parthiv Patel (25) for a blistering 64-run opening stand. The dismissal of Patel in the eighth over saw AB walk to the crease and make his mark on the innings. He and Kohli partnered for a sensational 108-run stand as they unleashed all the shots in the book.

    It was only in the death overs that Kolkata managed to dismiss the pair, with Kohli falling first after Kuldeep Yadav (1-31) completed a return catch in the 18th over. The India and RCB captain had contributed 84 off 49 deliveries (9×4, 2×6) before his dismissal.

    The former Proteas stalwart followed soon after when he holed out to the man on the extra cover boundary off the bowling of Sunil Narine (1-30). He finished with a swashbuckling 63 runs at a strike rate of 197 that included five fours and four flamboyant sixes.

    KKR began their chase poorly as they lost Narine (10) early in the powerplay. Opener Chris Lynn (43 off 31 balls, 4×4, 2×6) and Robbie Uthappa (33) came together to and continued taking the attack to the bowlers in their 65-run stand.

    The ever-reliable Yuzvendra Chahal (1-24) was brought into the attack and promptly slowed the scoring down with his wily wrist spin. Pawan Negi also contributed to the cause with his left-arm spin and was the pick of the bowlers with his 2-21 in 3.1 overs.

    The Russell show propelled the visitors to victory after the West Indian powerhouse smashed a staggering 48 off just 13 deliveries, which included one four and seven sixes smashed out of the park. The Jamaican’s heroics single-handedly secured the five-wicket victory to take KKR to second on the log, while RCB remains rooted to the bottom.

    READ ALSO: Klaasen joins AB at RCB

    Saturday’s IPL action will start off with the Chennai Super Kings returning to the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai to take on the Kings XI Punjab in the afternoon match.

    The evening encounter will be between the table-topping Sunrisers Hyderabad and the formidable Mumbai Indians at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.

    Scorecard

    Photo: Ron Gaunt/SPORTZPICS/BCCI

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    Anitha Madikizela