IPL
On April 19, 2019, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) legend Virat Kohli smashed his fifth Indian Premier League (IPL) century against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and guided his side to a 10-run win at the iconic Eden Gardens. At the toss, Kohli lost to his counterpart Dinesh Karthik and the latter invited Challengers to bat first. The visitors saw the early departure of their opener Parthiv Patel (11 off 11) but their captain Kohli showed his plucky side and dominated the bowlers. Allying with England all-rounder Moeen Ali, the star India batter built a 90-run partnership off just 43 deliveries.
Moeen played a fantabulous knock of 66 off just 28 with 11 boundaries (five four and six maximums). In the 16th over of the match, the left-handed batter plundered 27 runs from Kuldeep Yadav’s over which left the India spinner in tears. Ali amassed those runs through three sixes and two fours. In the same over, the English player lost his wicket while attacking the spin wizard. After Moeen’s dismissal, Marcus Stoinis joined Kohli and hit an unbeaten 17 off just eight. In the final over of the innings, Kohli completed his century with a four on Harry Gurney’s delivery. Riding on his hundred, RCB posted a massive total of 213/4 on the board.
Nitish Rana’s unbeaten 85 (46) goes in vain as RCB held their nerves
Chasing the target, KKR were handed the early blow in the form of Chris Lynn, who couldn’t pass the Dale Steyn challenge in the first over of the innings. Following Lynn, Sunil Narine and Shubman Gill also went to the dugout after a few minutes with their ineffective innings of 18 (16) and nine off 11 respectively. Robin Uthappa, who came at number four, lost his wicket to Stoinis after hoarding only nine runs from his bat.
In the crunch situation, Nitish Rana displayed his courageous side and took RCB’s bowling unit to the cleaners. The southpaw along with Andre Russell batted fiercely and maintained a 118-run stand which came in just 48 balls. However, that wasn’t enough to take KKR home as they fell 10 runs short eventually. Russell notched up 65 off 25 while Rana stayed unbeaten with his 85 off 46. Kohli became the player of the match for his 100 off 58.
