Kolkata Knight Riders plunged in a humiliating eight-wicket loss to Royal Challengers Bangalore in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday, where KKR was limited to 84-for-8 in its 20 overs, the lowest total for the team with wickets in hand in history. of the Indian Premier League (IPL). KKR was impressed by RCB pacemaker Mohammed Siraj, who, in a searing spell of fast bowling with the new ball, delivered two wicket-maidens in consecutive overs and returned 3-2-2-3 on his first spell. In response, RCB had little trouble chasing the paltry total as they cruised to victory with 6.3 overs to spare.
KKR captain Eoin Morgan won the toss and chose to hit, but the batters were shaken from the second envelope of the game when Siraj managed to catch starter Rahul Tripathi (1) behind.
Nitish Rana (0) had a clean pitch on the next ball and while Tom Banton (10) kept the hat-trick ball at bay, he was soon sent off by Siraj when Banton also passed him behind AB de Villiers.
Navdeep Saini returned the other starter and one of the hitters in KKR form, Shubman Gill (1) and when Yuzvendra Chahal caught Dinesh Karthik (4) lbw, KKR was in all kinds of trouble at 32 of 5.
His problem was compounded when Pat Cummins (4) became Chahal’s second wicket, punching Devdutt Padikkal, to leave KKR reeling at 40 for 6.
Morgan saved some grace with 30 of 34 balls, but died in the last five in an attempt to up the ante without a recognized hitter at the other end: Andre Russell missed the game XI due to injury.
RCB’s response was quick. Starters Padikkal (25) and Aaron Finch (16) added 46 for the first wicket in 6.2 overs before Finch was caught by Karthik off Lockie Ferguson.
Padikkal was left out in the same over, but captain Virat Kohli (18 off) and Gurkeerat Mann (21 off) ensured that RCB did not suffer any further setbacks and took the victory in 13.3 overs.
On a day that belonged to the RCB bowlers, Siraj was the best of the lot with final figures of 4-2-8-3. Her two consecutive maidens was the first time in IPL that a bowler had thrown two maidens in the same match.
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Chahal returned 2 of 15 while Washington Sundar and Saini each got a wicket.
With this victory RCB rose to second place in the table with 14 points after 10 games while KKR remained fourth with 10 points.
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