Narine, Rana's all-round show gets Knight Riders on the board

Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and decided to bowl against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their opening match of IPL 11 at the Edens Gardens.

If there was anyone who did not enjoy KL Rahul’s 14-ball fifty earlier in the day, it was Sunil Narine. The West Indian decided to send a quite reminder that the record for the fastest IPL fifty was his by scoring a flawless 17-ball half-century in Kolkata Knight Riders’ four-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in their IPL opener at the Eden Gardens.

Narine’s 19-ball 50-run inning gave KKR a flying start in the powerplay and took them way ahead of the asking rate. That 177-run target was always within their reach after Narine’s heroics with the bat took them to 68 at the end of powerplay, that too after losing Chris Lynn (5) early.

The West Indian, who earlier bowled his 4 overs for only 30 runs, picking up the wicket of McCullum, hit five sixes and four boundaries, scoring at a mind-boggling strike rate of 263.16.

Narine was dismissed by Umesh Yadav after he got to his fifty  but the damage was already done.

After that, Nitish Rana (34) and Dinesh Karthik (35) made useful contributions in the middle order, killing RCB’s hopes of a possible comeback.

For RCB, Umesh Yadav was the pick of the bowlers, bowling with good pace and extracting a lot of bounce from a lively wicket. He ended up with 2 for 27.

RCB innings

A collective batting effort took the Royal Challengers Bangalore to 176 for 7 against Kolkata Knight Riders in their opening match.

Brendon McCullum (43) and AB de Villiers (44) were the top scorers for Bangalore, while Mandeep Singh (37) provided the finishing touches, taking Vinay Kumar for two sixes and a four in the last over.

RCB did not get off to the best of starts, losing opener Qunton de Kock early to Piyush Chawla but McCullum then got into his own, taking on the KKR spinners. He scored a 23-ball 44, which was studded with five mouth-watering sixes and one boundary.

Indian captain Virat Kohli (31 off 33) played the second fiddle and after RCB's star batsmen left the crease, it was a blazing cameo by Mandeep Singh which ensured RCB post a challenging total on board.

With de Villiers blazing all guns at one point their run graph was looking past 200 but part-time off-spinner Rana produced twin dismissals in two balls -- De Villiers and Kohli -- to reduce RCB for 127/4 in 14.2 overs.

It's raining sixes at the Eden Gardens!
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— Hotstar US (@Hotstarusa) April 8, 2018

De Villiers top edged, while Rana yorked Kohli to break the quickfire 64 runs partnership off 36 balls as KKR pulled things back but Mandeep Singh produced a scintillating 18-ball 37 -- with two sixes and a four against Vinay Kumar in the last over -- to help RCB post 176 for 7.

Credit to Vinay Kumar, who scalped two wickets of his last two deliveries to pull things back a bit.

Bowling with a remodelled action after his latest call of suspect action in the Pakistan Super League last month, Sunil Narine returned with 1/30 while fellow mate Andre Russell conceded 10 runs from two overs.

Earlier, McCullum once again shone in a debut innings for the Bangalore franchise and became the second player to complete 9000 T20 runs.

His innings gave RCB a flying start with 52/1 in the Powerplay before Narine tied up the proceedings from one end.

Narine was brought on in the first over after Powerplay and bowled four dot balls to Kohli, conceding just two runs.

Beating McCullum with his change of pace, Narine cleaned up the New Zealander and gave his trademark deadpan expression.

But De Villiers ensured that the run-rate does not slide further as he lifted the atmosphere with his two stunning sixes off Kuldeep's successive deliveries.

The South African easily picked up a Kuldeep googly before launching him effortlessly with an inside-out six, and followed it up with straight six in a treat to the eyes.

Vinay Kumar was wayward with the new ball and McCullum made most of it smashing him for 14 runs in the first over that included two fours and one six.

He also bowled the last over and was smashed for consecutive six, four and another six before dismissing Mandeep Singh and Chris Woakes in the last two balls of the innings.

Toss Report

Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and decided to bowl against Royal Challengers Bangalore in their opening match of IPL 11 at the Edens Gardens.

Dinesh Karthik will play his first match as a captain for Kolkata, while the match will also see the return of India skipper Virat Kohli after a long break.

Kohli had made it clear earlier that he will slot in at No.3 with world’s one of two most dashing wicket-keepers Brendon McCullum and Quinton de Kock taking the openers' position.

KKR have gone with the experience of Vinay Kumar and Piyush Chawla instead of the U-19 youngsters Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Shivam Mavi.

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Quinton de Kock(w), Brendon McCullum, Virat Kohli(c), AB de Villiers, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, Washington Sundar, Chris Woakes, Kulwant Khejroliya, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal

Kolkata Knight Riders: Sunil Narine, Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa, Dinesh Karthik (w/c), Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Piyush Chawla, Vinay Kumar, Mitchell Johnson, Kuldeep Yadav.