Mohammed Siraj bowled a sensational spell to literally destroyed KKR's top-order her with wickets of Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana and Tom Banton without conceding a single run to become first bowler to bowl two maidens in an IPL game and restrict Kolkata Knight Riders to 84/8 at Abu Dhabi on Wednesday. Today was the first time since April 2012 that Kolkata were playing with both Sunil Narine and Andre Russell missing in the Playing XI.
Kolkata Knight Riders won the toss and opted to bat first against Royal Challengers Bangalore at Abu Dhabi international cricket stadium. For KKR, Shubhman Gill and Rahul Tripathi came out in the middle to start the proceedings. Mohammed Siraj was handed the new ball and he picked a wicket with his third ball to depart Tripathi for just one run.
Siraj delivered another major blow to KKR by cleaning up their another in-form batsman Nitish Rana for a first-ball duck. Siraj failed to bag a hat-trick but started with a double-wicket maiden. KKR were now in early trouble as they were only at 3 for loss of two wickets.
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Another Kolkata batsman bite the dust and it seemed at this point in the game that KKR batsmen were in a hurry to return back to their dressing room. Shubman Gill in an attempt to up the ante, skied an attempted heave and Chris Morris snagged it up to help Navdeep Saini get a wicket.
KKR had high hopes from young talented batsman Tom Banton (10) but the exciting talent today managed to hit just a four and a six - and became the fourth batsman to fall.
After bowling 12 deliveries for zero runs and picking three wickets, Mohammed Siraj became the first bowler ever to bowl two maidens in one IPL game. RCB got a dream start and at the end of the powerplay Kolkata managed to reach 17 for loss of four wickets -- the lowest score in the powerplay this season.
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KKR were in big trouble with two of their best batsmen in the middle - Eoin Morgan and Dinesh Karthik. Morgan and Dinesh Karthik started the the rebuilding process for Kolkata but the KKR skipper (4) failed to read a well-placed googly from Yuzvendra Chahal, who trapped him in front of the wicket for an LBW out with DRS coming into effect.
In the end, KKR could manage to reach just 84/8 in their allotted 20 overs.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (Playing XI): Devdutt Padikkal, Aaron Finch, Virat Kohli(c), AB de Villiers(w), Gurkeerat Singh Mann, Washington Sundar, Chris Morris, Mohammed Siraj, Isuru Udana, Navdeep Saini, Yuzvendra Chahal
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Shubman Gill, Tom Banton, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan(c), Dinesh Karthik(w), Rahul Tripathi, Pat Cummins, Lockie Ferguson, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Varun Chakravarthy