The previous encounter was a great clash between the two great teams in IPL – CSK and DC, where, CSK clinched an overwhelming victory under the great finishers of all times – MSD.
The fans were just recovering from the drama from the above-mentioned game while another important fixture shows-up. A battle that will give us our other finalist, while, it will also help to find out who will play DC in Qualifier 2.
The Sharjah International stadium hosted the second eliminator match between the 3rd and 4th team in the league’s table.
The collective efforts from teams are a major reason for the success of all the qualifying teams for this season. The Royal Challengers Bangalore were looking for the first title and were looking pretty determined before the in-form Kolkata Knight riders who were seeking their third title.
Virat Kohli after winning the toss for RCB elected to bat first.
RCB with the bat
Both the batters from RCB – Kohli, and Padikkal started cautiously and tried to rotate strike without failing during the initial five overs. Padikkal was looking in good shape until he falls prey to Lockie Ferguson, the player to strike for KKR during the sixth over. Padikkal was sent back for 21 runs from 18 balls.
Kohli was playing superbly at 39 when Sunil Narine, the star from yesterday for KKR strikes. Kohli was the only batsman from RCB to have scored a 30 plus score while all others failed to do so. RCB was 49/1 in 5.1 overs.
After that, there was no partnership built for the RCB, and players were seen to be a bit shaken with their performances with the bat. RCB posted 138 runs after the end of 20 overs at a run rate of 6.90.
Sunil Narine was a trouble for the RCBs batter. He was striking heavily with the bowl for KKR, while, bowling four overs conceding only 21 runs at a super economy of 5.25. He took four crucial wickets including Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, K Bharath, and Glenn Maxwell.
On the other hand, Lockie Ferguson also took two wickets for KKR during his spell of four overs.
It was a collective effort from the bowler’s end from KKR. We’ve also seen both Shakib Al Hasan and Varun Chakravarthy who have bowled brilliantly and were way economic for KKR.
The chase by the Knights
The young openers from KKR started the batting responsively and tried to avoid giving wickets during the early stage while trying to ease the access to runs for their middle order as the target was not so high but it was challenging considering the stage of play.
Both the openers – Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer were batting sensibly until the sixth over when Harshal Patel from RCB struck with the bowl and took the wicket of the dangerous-looking Gill. Both of them scored 29 and 26 runs respectively for their team.
After that, with the chase for KKR it was Nitish Rana and Sunil Narine who batted beautifully and each contributing more than 20 runs, took KKR towards their victory.
Kolkata managed to reach their target during the 20th over with four wickets and two balls remaining thus clearing their way towards the final.
The RCB bowlers – Mohammed Siraj, Harshal Patel, and Yuzvendra Chahal were particularly brilliant with the bowl. Siraj had bowled some of his great death overs this season and in yesterday’s encounter, he was seen to be a raging force as well.
The target 139 was pretty achievable for KKR looking at the ground condition at Sharjah and if RCB have had few more runs, the bowlers would have found it comfortable to bowl.