Kolkata Knight Riders, on Friday, beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru by 7 wickets at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium, becoming the first team to win an away match in the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) season. Chasing down the target of 183 runs in just 16.5 overs, KKR pulled off their second consecutive victory.
Interestingly, while Kolkata's batters had no troubles whatsoever in accumulating runs, nearly all of Bengaluru's batters struggled to get going on what then seemed to be a tricky pitch.
Speaking about the defeat, RCB skipper Faf du Plessis called it a 'strange one', stating they assumed the wicket to be two-paced.
“Strange one, first innings we thought that the wicket was two-paced, you could see that when the guys bowled the cutters, the guys really struggled. We thought it was a decent score knowing that it gets a little easier in the evening, there was a little bit of dew coming in,” said du Plessis.
"Looking at the way we batted in the first innings, even Virat was struggling to hit the ball due to the lack of pace," he further added.
He also applauded KKR’s batters for their effort, saying “You can always say after the game, try one or two things but the way the two of them (Narine and Slat) batted, they put pressure on our bowlers. They hit strong cricket shots and pretty much took the game away. With Narine there, you can't go to spin, you want to use pace upfront. That's also a really good match-up for Salt and the way he plays. They were excellent, really broke the game in the first six overs.”
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)