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RCB thrashes Knight Riders

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Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Wednesday cruised to a facile eight-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium. Mohammed Siraj led the way with figures of 2/8 as RCB strangled KKR to 84/8 in their 20 overs. They chased down the target with a whopping 39 balls to spare.

The win takes RCB level on points with the top-placed Delhi Capitals at 14, from 10 matches. They remain second only on the basis of their inferior net run rate.

RCB openers Aaron Finch and Devdutt Padikkal started the farcical chase with an opening stand of 46 runs. They played through the powerplay before Finch fell to Lockie Ferguson. Padikkal then departed after a mix-up with new batsman Gurkeerat Mann Singh landed both batsmen at the same end of the pitch.

Captain Virat Kohli then took his place with Gurkeerat and saw the team home with an unbeaten stand of 40 runs.

Earlier, pacer Siraj led the stranglehold for RCB, taking three wickest for eigth runs and bowling two maidens in four overs.

Siraj and his new ball partner Navdeep Saini tore into the top half for the KKR batting order in the powerplay overs. While Siraj dismissed opener Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana and Tom Banton, Saini got Tripathi’s openng partner Shubman Gill.

Captain Eoin Morgan and Dinesh Karthik tried to steady the ship by holding on to their wickets between the fourth and eighth over. Karthik finally departed, falling to Yuzvendra Chahal in the ninth over, having made four runs from 14 balls. An eighth wicket partnership of 27 runs between Lockie Ferguson and Kuldeep Yadav was KKR’s highest.

RCB team makes a huddle

Record Night For Siraj

RCB speedster Mohammed Siraj became the first bowler in the 13-year history of the Indian Premier League (IPL) to bowl two maiden overs in an innings.

The Hyderabadi right-armer’s first two overs were maidens, and took all his three wickets during those overs.

Siraj’s spell of 4-2-8-3 against Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday night is also the most economical this year. No one has conceded runs at two an over this season like Siraj did.

Siraj’s 16 dot balls are also the second most dot balls bowled in an innings in this year’s IPL, behind CSK player Deepak Chahar’s 17. SunRisers Hyderabad’s Rashid Khan and Siraj’s RCB teammate Navdeep Saini too have bowled 16 dot balls in a spell this season.

Kolkata Knight Riders’ total of 84 of eight is the lowest by a team that hasn’t been bowled out in the IPL history.

This surpasses the 92 for eight by Kings XI Punjab against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in Durban in 2009.

Brief scores: KKR 84/8 wkts in 20 overs (Eoin Morgan 30, Lockie Ferguson 19; Mohammed Siraj 3/8) lost to RCB 85/2 in 13.3 overs (Devdutt Padikkal 25, Gurkeerat Mann Singh 21; Lockie Ferguson 1/17) by eigth wickets

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