In the opening match of the 18th edition of the IPL, the defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders had to begin their campaign with a defeat. At their home ground, Eden Gardens, Ajinkya Rahane’s team was defeated by the newly appointed captain Rajat Patidar’s Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 7 wickets. The 18th edition also saw a brilliant start from the iconic player wearing jersey number 18 — Virat Kohli.
After Phil Salt’s explosive half-century (56 runs from 31 balls, 9 fours, 2 sixes), King Kohli (59* runs from 36 balls, 4 fours, 3 sixes) steered the team to victory. Chasing a target of 175 runs, RCB reached the goal with 22 balls to spare, starting the tournament with great confidence. Salt reached his fifty in 25 balls, and Kohli in 30 balls, followed by Rajat Patidar’s quickfire 34 runs from 16 balls (5 fours, 1 six), which helped the team secure an easy win.
Krunal Pandya was awarded the Player of the Match in his debut appearance for RCB.
New RCB captain Rajat Patidar won the toss and chose to bowl first. Although Quinton de Kock got a life early on after a dropped catch in the first over, he couldn’t capitalize on it. On the other hand, captain Ajinkya Rahane gave KKR a flying start, scoring a half-century off just 25 balls. Sunil Narine scored 44 runs from 26 balls before getting out. Rahane too was dismissed after scoring 56 from 31 balls.
Krunal Pandya took 3 wickets in quick succession, putting a brake on KKR’s scoring rate, especially when they looked to cross 200. In the middle order, only Angkrish Raghuvanshi (30 from 22 balls) played a decent knock, but KKR couldn’t post the kind of score they had hoped for. With Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, and Andre Russell all failing, KKR managed just 29 runs in the last 5 overs and missed out on a potential 200+ total.
Krunal Pandya took 3 wickets, while Josh Hazlewood picked up 2 wickets.
