KKR bowl out RCB to lowest IPL total of 49, win by 82 runs

Photo: BCCI New Delhi: Kolkata Knight Riders’ fast bowlers ripped through Royal Challengers Bangalore by bundling them out for the lowest total ever in IPL and win the match by a whopping 82 runs at Eden Gardens Kolkata.  Chasing a paltry 132, RCB were bowled out for 49 inside 10 overs. None of the batters crossed the double figure mark as the star-studded RCB batting line up comprising of Kohli, Gayle, De Villiers and Jadhav came a cropper in front of relentless KKR bowling. Gautam Gambhir proved once again why he is regarded as one of the best captains around in IPL by bowling 10 overs of seam and not even turning to his star spinner Sunil Narine for once. The carnage began with Nathan Coulter-Nile getting Virat Kohli for a duck in a Test-match like dismissal. The RCB captain had some issues with the sight screen but his dismissal was something that a cricket fan has seen more than once in the longer forms of the game. If Coulter-Nile was breathing fire from one end, Umesh Yadav was dishing out rockets from the other. He soon sent back Mandeep Singh for 1 with the scoreboard reading 3 for 2 – KKR knew they had already made a match of it. But what followed for the nest 40 minutes was nothing short of spectacular. Hostile bowlers troubling the best in the business with some well directed bouncers and controlled swing – all of that by maintaining a speed of over 140 kmph. Coulter Nile got De Villiers with one which took off from good length and Mr. 360 failed to control the pull shot and ended up top edging one. Only, Gayle was standing in front of KKR and an improbable victory but he too fell to a short one from Chris Woakes, who replaced Umesh Yadav into the attack. It was continuous bombardment by KKR, first through Umesh and Coulter-Nile and then through Woakes and Grandhomme.  They were obviously helped by some careless stroke play by the RCB top order. With Kohli, Gayle, De Villiers, Jadhav all back in the hut only a miracle could have got RCB out of it. And it wasn’t to be as they slumped further and were bowled out for 49. Coulter-Nile, Woakes and Grandhomme picked 3 wickets a piece and Umesh got one wicket on a day where run scoring was scarce. Earlier, KKR collapsed to 131 all out after getting off to a delightful start, courtesy Sunil Narine, who was the top scorer of the match with his 17 ball 34. The match was delayed by half an hour because of rain.