Picture Credit: Instagram/@kkriders
Kolkata Knight Riders had a great start to the second leg of IPL 2021 after a disappointing first half in India. They cruised over the Virat Kohli-led RCB and registered an emphatic nine-wicket win on Monday. Everything went well for the Knights. After losing the toss and asked to bowl first, their bowlers did an exceptional task to stop the opposition under 100 runs and then the young opening pair of Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer sealed the game with their fiery knocks.
It was all smiles in the KKR dressing room as they got a good kick off to the second leg. Everyone in the dressing room seemed elated at the win and acknowledged each other’s contribution. “Well done to Venky. Top stuff. Gilly, amazing stuff. It’s the type of start we want and the finishing we want. Everything was perfect today. Bowling, fielding, can’t complain,” Andre Russell was heard saying in the video posted by KKR on Instagram. "The team has won, that’s the only result I wanted. Happy to contribute...Credit to Shubman. I think the way he batted gave me a lot of confidence,” said debutant Venkatesh Iyer who scored 41* off 27 deliveries.
Watch the full video here:
KKR moves to fifth spot in points table
With this emphatic victory against Virat Kohli-led RCB, KKR has moved to the fifth position in the points table. They now have six points and are just behind defending champions Mumbai Indians (8 points). The bigger margin of victory has also massively improved their NRR (+0.110) and is now only behind CSK and DC in terms of that. Meanwhile, for RCB it was yet another disappointing performance as they crumbled under pressure.
From 51/3 at one stage, they were reduced to 66/7. The three big names in the batting line up failed miserably. Kohli was caught LBW in the second over itself, while de Villiers was removed for a golden duck, courtesy of a searing yorker from Andre Russell. WATCH: Andre Russell gets AB de Villiers for a duck with a cracking yorker Maxwell, who struggled badly to break free, perished to Varun Chakravarthy while attempting a hoic over long-on. However, this has not affected their position in the points table but their NRR (-0.706) has got a serious dent.