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Kolkata Knight Riders pulled off a thrilling one-run win over the Royal Challengers Bengaluru. With this victory, KKR jumped to the second spot on the table while RCB are still right down at the bottom of the table. This defeat has also nearly ended Bengaluru's hopes to qualify for the playoffs.
The Royal Challengers Bengaluru, after winning the toss, invited Kolkata Knight Riders to bat first and the home side gleefully obliged. With powerplay on, KKR opener Phil Salt took on the RCB new ball attack by hitting them all around the Eden Gardens. The Englishman smashed Lockie Ferguson for 28 runs as he reached 48 in 14 balls before getting out against Mohammed Siraj.
With this head start Kolkata batters continued their aggressive approach and in the process lost two quick wickets. Rescuing the Knight Riders, captain Shreyas Iyer and Rinku Singh a quick 40-run stand before the young left-hander was dismissed by Ferguson. With a solid platform built ahead of the death overs, the Andre Russell and Ramandeep Singh duo helped post a massive 222-run total. For RCB, Cameron Green was the pick of the bowler with figures of 2-35 in four overs.
Then in the second innings, the Royal Challengers had a quick start before Virat Kohli was given out after a controversial 'no no-ball' call and Faf du Plessis was dismissed by Varun Chakaravarthy. Recovering from the quick wickets, Will Jacks and Rajat Patidar posted a massive 102-run stand and turned the game in Bengaluru's favour.
But like in any IPL game, there was another twist as Andre Russell took the ball and scalped two quick wickets. This was enough for KKR as their bowlers put in the squeeze by cutting down the flow of runs and picking up regular wickets. Kolkata were certainly on top but Karan Sharma's 20 in seven balls with three sixes nearly turned the game for RCB. But Mitchell Starc held his nerve and won the game for Kolkata. For KKR, Andre Russell was the top performer with the ball as he picked up three wickets while giving away just 25 runs in three overs.
