IPL 2021, RCB vs KKR: Sunil Narine Special Help Kolkata Knock Out Bangalore, Reach Qualifier 2

KKR beat RCB by four wickets to knock them out in the Eliminator on Monday at Sharjah, and will play Delhi Capitals in the second qualifier. 

New Delhi: A spirited bowling performance from Bangalore bowlers kept them alive in the match till the very last over but it wasn't enough compared to special performance from Sunil Narine, both with the bat and bowl. Tonight was a one man show as Narine delivered one of the best performances of his T20 career to sink RCB and shatter Virat Kohli's dream of powering the Red Brigade to a title win as a captain.

First, Narine jolted Bangalore with figures of 4/21, removing Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell. Chasing 139 for the win, he hammered his first three balls for three consecutive sixes to pretty much kill the game for Bangalore. Things got a little bit tight towards the end, but Shakib and Morgan secured a win and sealed a berth in qualifier 2.

KKR beat RCB by four wickets to knock them out in the Eliminator on Monday at Sharjah, and will play Delhi Capitals in the second qualifier. 

Earlier, Virat Kohli won the toss and decided to chase on Sharjah's shiny track. Sunil Narine delivered a magical spell tonight as he bagged 4 wickets for just 21 runs to restrict Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to a paltry 138/7 in their Eliminator encounter of IPL 2021 Phase 2 match.

Openers Virat Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal powered Bangalore to a fiery start as the duo played some sensational strokes to score 49 runs inside the first six overs. Lockie Ferguson dismissed Padikkal for 21 to get the much-needed breakthrough. Bharat Srikar (9), who had emerged as the match-winner for RCB in their last game by hitting a last-ball six, failed to leave his mark tonight.

At the end of first 10 overs, Bangalore were restricted to 69/2. Kohli stitched a 19 run stand with Maxwell but after their partnership was broken, things went from bad to worse for the Red Brigade. Narine continued to take wickets and RCB was left reeling in the death overs of their innings. In the last three overs, RCB managed to add on some runs to reach under the 140-run mark.

RCB playing XI: Virat Kohli (c), Devdutt Padikkal, Srikar Bharat (wk), Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers, Daniel Christian, Shahbaz Ahmed, George Garton, Harshal Patel, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal

KKR playing XI: Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan (c), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Shakib Al Hasan, Sunil Narine, Lockie Ferguson, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakaravarthy