A good opening stand followed by skipper Virat Kohli’s unbeaten half-century helped Royal Challengers Bangalore to post 175/4 against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in an Indian Premier League (IPL) tie here on Sunday.
Kohli’s unbeaten 68-run knock came off 44 balls, containing five boundaries and three sixes at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium.
Put into bat, Bangalore started on a cautious note as openers Quinton de Kock (29 off 27) and Brendon McCullum (38 off 28) shared a 67-run partnership for the first wicket.
KKR spinner Kuldeep Yadav came up with the first breakthrough as he packed de Kock in the ninth over.
With the addition of just seven runs in Bangalore’s overall score of 67, Andre Russel jolted the hosts after dismissing McCullum and Manan Vohra (0) in the next over.
However, Kohli kept one end tight and added 65 runs for the fourth wicket with Mandeep Singh (19).
Mandeep however, didn’t show a fight and was dismissed on a Russel delivery in the 18th over with Bangalore’s score reading 140/4.
Kohli continued his good work and slammed yet another half-century and some fireworks by him in the final moments helped the hosts reach a respectable total of 175/4.
For Kolkata, Russel was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3/31 while Kuldeep scalped a wicket for 20 runs.
Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore: 175/4 (Virat Kohli 68, Brendon McCullum 38; Andre Russell 3/31) vs KKR.
