By BV Swagath
Kolkata Knight Riders have made it into the play-offs after registering a sixth win on the trot. The hosts defeated Royal Challengers Bangalore by a comprehensive margin of 30 runs at the Eden Gardens. With this defeat, the Virat Kohli led RCB are out of the tournament.
The match was KKR’s after piling up a huge total of 195 on the board. Big guns Chris Gayle, Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers along with Yuvraj Singh couldn’t produce any magic to get their team anywhere near the target. Opener Yogesh Takawale top scored with 45 from 36 balls while Kohli scored 38 from 31 balls.
RCB finished distant second with 165 for 5. Sunil Narine dominated them completely with his miserly spell of 4-0-20-4.
KKR innings: A terrific partnership of 121 between Robin Uthappa and Shakib Al Hasan powered hosts Kolkata Knight Riders to 195 for 4. Robin Uthappa kept his rich form going by carrying his bat with an unbeaten knock of 83 from 51 balls with 10 fours and a six. Shakib Al Hasan also batted well to score 60 from 38 balls with 5 fours and 3 sixes.
Asked to bat first after losing the toss, KKR were in a spot of bother at 56 for 3 in 7 overs before Uthappa got an able partner in Shakib Al Hasan.
In this 49th match of IPL 7, KKR made two changes with Morne Morkel and R Vinay Kumar replacing Pat Cummins and Piyush Chawla. RCB made two changes as well with Yogesh Takawale and Ashok Dinda replacing Parthiv Patel and Varun Aaron.
