IPL PICS: Royal Challengers Bangalore vs Kolkata Knight Riders

Images from the Indian Premier League ‘Eliminator’ between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Kolkata Knight Riders, in Sharjah, on Monday.

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West Indies spinner Sunil Narine showed glimpses of his vintage past with a magical spell that fetched him four wickets as Kolkata Knight Riders restricted Royal Challengers Bangalore to a below-par 138 for 7 in the Indian Premier League ‘Eliminator’, in Sharjah, on Monday.

Narine dismissed the Royal Challengers’ big three — Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Glenn Maxwell – to finish with impressive figures of 4 for 21.

With Varun Chakravarthy (0-20) not conceding a single boundary and Shakib Al Hasan (0-24 in) also keeping the batters on a tight leash, the Knight Riders’ spin troika conceded just 65 runs, including four boundaries, from their 12 overs.

Devdutt Padikkal (21 off 18 balls) and skipper Virat Kohli (39 off 33 balls) gave the Royal Challengers a good start, putting up 49 runs in the first five Powerplay overs, after Eoin Morgan started with the left-arm spin of Shakib.

The opening duo attacked an under-pressure Shivam Mavi, scoring as many as five boundaries in those first few overs.

However, Lockie Ferguson (2-30) broke the partnership, his extra pace off the first delivery of the sixth over proving too hot for Padikkal.

The left-hand batter, trying to cut, inside-edged a delivery pitched well outside off onto his stumps.

The Royal Challengers were 49 for 1.

Srikar Bharat, the hero of RCB’s last league match against Dehi Capitals, was clearly troubled by the lack of pace from the track as the spinners get the ball to grip off the surface. He failed to get going before he was foxed by a delivery from Narine and caught by Venkatesh Iyer for 9 off 15 balls.

He was Narine’s first of four victims when he tried to loft the spinner over long-off but unable to get to the pitch of the delivery and holed out in the deep.

Kohli, who had a good start like in most of the matches this season, lost the momentum post the Powerplay overs with the field spread.

The shot that got him out had desperation writ large over it as the slog-sweep to a fuller delivery from Narine was never on. The result was a pegged back leg-stump, which reduced the Royal Challengers to 88 for 3 in the 13th over.

AB de Villiers (11) was out to a real beauty from Narine. A classical off-break went through the gate to embarrass the legendary Proteas batter.

RCB’s best player of the season Maxwell (15) was supposed to have a bad day as per the ‘Law of Averages’ and it did catch up with him trying to slog-sweep Narine’s off-spin delivery which ballooned to short third-man to make it a dream day for the Trinidadian spin ace.

With the big hitters back in the dug-out the Royal Challengers struggled to get some big hits and had to settle with 138 in the end.

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