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Royal Challengers Bangalore will take the field against Kolkata Knight Riders at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday, looking for their first win of the season.
The Kohli-led team have lost all their four matches are at the bottom of the table while Kolkata are fourth with two wins and a loss one out of their three matches.
There is no end to Bangalore’s miseries as both the batting and bowling department have failed to deliver. Meanwhile, Kolkata has had great outings with bat in all their three matches, with all-rounder Andre Russell leading the charge. But their bowlers have looked a little out of sort in IPL 2019, especially in the last game against Delhi Capitals.
As far as head-to-head between the two teams are concerned, KKR have won 14 games while RCB have won 9. Out of the 14 wins, Kolkata have won six matches at the Chinnaswamy compared to Bangalore’s 4.
KKR win the toss, elects to bowl as Sunil Narine returns. For Bangalore skipper Kohli has made two changes in the side. Tim Southee replaces Shimron Hetmyer and Pawan Negi replaces Umesh Yadav.
Parthiv Patel hits a four off the second ball off the RCB innings as Prasidh Krishna gives away 13 runs off his first over with Kohli also hitting two fours off he last two balls to start his innings.
RCB 13/0
Piyush Chawla gives away 7 runs off his first over as he starts tidily.
RCB 20/0
Sunil Narine comes into bowl and gives away 8 runs off his first over. He missed the previous game against Delhi Daredevils with an injury. Parthiv and Kohli plays Narine very well and attacks the mystery spinner in his very first over.
RCB 28/0.
Lockie Ferguson taken for 12 runs off his first over as Virat creams him for three fours as he looks in good touch.
RCB 41/0
After going for a boundary off the first ball, Chawla makes a comeback to give away just 8 runs off his second over. Parthiv and Kohli going strong for RCB.
RCB 49/0
RCB bring up 50 in the sixth over of the innings. Kohli and Parthiv showing the way with the bat for their team.
RCB 53/0
Kuldeep Yadav gives away 7 runs off his first over as Bangalore is strengthening their grip on the game. Dinesh Karthik chopping and changing his bowlers.
RCB 60/0
Nitish Rana breaks through for KKR as he dismisses Parthiv Patel. The partnetship is finally broken and it takes a part - time bowler to give KKR a wicket.
RCB 64/1
Parthiv Patel was dismissed for 25 off 24 balls which included three boundaries. The left - hander along with Kohli ensured that his team gets the best start of the season so far.
RCB 64/1
The 9th over comes to an end as the umpires call for the first time-out of the game. It gives a good opportunity for KKR to asses the situation and make changes accordingly.
RCB 69/1
AB De Villiers joins Virat Kohli at the wicket and gets started with his innings immediately. It will be interesting to see how the bowlers tackle this duo now.
RCB 78/1
Virat Kohli gets to yet another IPL fifty. His knock consisted of 7 fours so far and is looking ominuos from KKR’s perspective.
Virat Kohli gets to his fifty and is looking set to get a long stay at the crease. Meanwhile, probems are mounting for KKR bowlers.
RCB 90/1
Kohli gets to yet another fifty in IPL cricket. He seems determined to make a healthy contribution with the bat for his team and win their first game of the season.
RCB 96/1
RCB bring up 100 in the 13th over of their innings. With seven overs to go, they are well on their course for a score above 200.
RCB 108/1
RCB are 144 before the start of the 15th over and the pair of Kohli and De Villiers are ensuring that they finish strong. Nothing has worked for the KKR bowlers tonight as the RCB batting order has finally come to form.
RCB 153/1
Finally, the duo of Kohli and De Villiers come out strong for Bangalore as they bring up their century partnership for the second wicket. Both Kohli and De Villiers complementated each other all through out the stand.
Kuldeep Yadav gives KKR a crucial breakthrough as Virat Kohli is dismissed for 84. He hit nine fours and two sixes in his innings. De Villiers is batting on 55.
Sunil Narine picks up AB De Villiers for 63 as KKR are pulling things back at the end of the innings.
RCB 186/3
Prasidh Krishna bowls the final over and gives away 18 runs as RCB finish on 205/3 . KKR batters now have a task on their hands.
Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn starts Kolkata’s chase of 206 for victory. They have a daunting target in their hands and they really need to bat well to get past the score.
Tim Southee starts off proceedings for RCB and is taken for 17 runs in his very first over. Lynn and Narine off to a flyer.
KKR 17/0
Navdeep Saini comes up with the second over for RCB and goes for 11 runs and takes the big wicket of Narine. He scored 10 off 8 balls with two fours.
KKR 28/1
Robin Uthappa joins Chris Lynn after Narine’s wicket. KKR now need a partnership and these two senior players should give them one if they are to win the game.
KKR 31/1
Uthappa and Lynn take KKR’s innings forward. They need to be sensible about the chase. As the commentators are repeatedly saying, with good batting conditions, wickets in hand will win the game.
KKR 38/1
Fifty up for Kolkata as Lynn and Uthappa take KKR forward in the chase. Both are taking the attack to the RCB bowlers at the moment.
KKR 51/1
Yuzvendra Chahal goes for just six runs in the final over of the powerplay as Kolkata build their innings up. Lynn and Uthappa batting sensibly at the moment.
KKR 59/1
Lynn and Uthappa have added 40 runs off 31 balls so far as Kolkata have reached 68 in 7 overs.
KKR 68/1
Chahal finishes another over, his second as Lynn and Uthappa inch closer to a 50-run stand. They have added 46 off 38 so far.
KKR 73/1
Lynn and Uthappa add a 50-run stand as Kolkata score big from the Siraj over as he is taken for two fours and a six off the over.
KKR 92/1
Pawan Negi dismissed Robin Uthappa for 33 to provide his team an important breakthrough. Captain Kohli delighted.
KKR 94/2
Mohammed Siraj drops a sitter to give Chris Lynn a lifeline. Skipper Kohli who was just smiling a while back, is now devastated.
KKR 107/2
Lynn is castled by Negi just as he was nearing his fifty. He was dismissed on 43 off 31 Balls. KKR now need 96 runs in 49 balls.
KKR 109/3
Kolkata head into a time out after scoring 114 runs in 13 overs. They now need 92 from the last 6.
KKR 114/3
Pawan Negi slows the momentum for KKR and is restricting their batters from hitting big shots in the death overs of the match. However, Nitish Rana ensures that the over goes for 14.
KKR 134/3
Yuzvendra Chahal picks up Nitish Rana fo 34 as Andre Russell walks into bat for KKR. He has 30 balls to take KKR to a win here.
KKR 140/4
Karthik is dismissed for 19 by Navdeep Saini as KKR now need 53 runs from 16 balls.
KKR 153/5
After Siraj was pulled out of the air, Russell hit 23 runs off the 18th over.
KKR 176/5.
Andre Russell smacked 29 off the 19th over from Tim Southee. This has been some batting by the West Indian hard-hitting all rounder. What a game of cricket this has been.
After Russell scores 29 off the 19th over, Shubman Gill takes the final run needed to win in the first ball of the final over by Negi. Kolkata finally win the game by 5 wickets.
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