It was an innings of two halves for Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL 2025 season opener in Kolkata. RCB won the toss nd opted to bowl first. Ajinkya Rahae (56) and Sunil Narine (44) added 103 for the second wicket as KKR reached 107/1 in the first 10 overs.
The second 10 overs was totally different to how they played the first 10 overs. RCB bowlers made a comeback into the game as they took wickets at regular intervals. Josh Hazlewood took two for 22 and Krunal Pandya took 3/29 as KKR scored 67/8 wickets in the back 10 overs.
Batting seemed to get difficult in the back 10 overs with the spinners coming into their own. Though Suyash was expensive as he went for 47 off his four overs, he took the key wicket of Andre Russell.
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RCB Bowlers Choke KKR Batters In The Back 10 Overs
Continuous loss of wickets did not allow the middle and the lower-order to build on the good start for the Knight Riders. Thanks to the 107-run stand between Ajinkya Rahane (56) and Sunil Narine (44), KKR reached 174 after their 20 overs. Royal Challengers Bangalore now needs 175 to win which they should fancy chasing.
At one point, it looked like KKR were cruising and might get even close to 220. However, once the partnership was broken by Rasikh Salam, KKR could not power themselves to where they would have liked to finish.
It looked like RCB fielded a below-par bowling attack by not including Bhuvneshwar Kumar in the playing XI. However, the experience of Josh Hazlewood came into the fore as he delivered four quality overs. The spinners put the brakes on the run-scoring in the final overs asthere were not too many boundaries. hit.
KKR have not lost to RCB since the start of 2023. The last time Bangalore won against KKR was in 2022. Now at home, KKR needs to bowl very well to defend the target. All the eyes will be on their spin duo Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy and how they bowl in the middle overs.
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