Four masterstrokes from KKRvsRCB game

The third match of the Indian Premier league saw Royal Challengers Bangalore taking on Kolkata Knight Riders. Dinesh Karthik won the toss and decided to take the field first.

RCB started their innings a bit scratchily losing De Kock early; Kohli was also finding it hard to time the ball until De Villiers entered the field and started smashing everything out of the park.

The things changed when Kohli and De Villiers got dismissed in the same over but thanks to Mandeep Singh’s knock that RCB posted a respectable total of 176.

KKR’s inning started with a bang as Sunil Narine took RCB bowlers to cleaners. Umesh Yadav bowled nicely in the middle overs but a sensible innings from Karthik and some big shots from Andre Russel helped KKR achieve the target easily.

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#1 Introduction of Wrist spinners in the power play

The newly appointed skipper of Kolkata Knight Riders, Karthik used a very interesting strategy to prevent the flow of runs in the power play.

Out of the six powerplay overs, Karthik used his wrist spinners, Piyush Chawla and Kuldeep Yadav for five overs.

In the very first over when McCullum smashed Vinay Kumar for 14 runs, Karthik was quick to realise that he needed to slow things down and bring on his spinners.

The move turned out to be a masterstroke as both the spinners not only stopped the flow of runs but also scalped the prize wicket of De Kock.

#2 Gambling an over with Nitish Rana

Both Kohli and De Villiers fell in consecutive deliveries to Rana

It was in the 15th over of the innings, De Villiers and Kohli were set and Karthik looked clueless. Out of nowhere, he decided to gamble with Nitish Rana, the part-timer, for an over.

The first ball of the over was a half-tracker that was deposited in the stands by De Villiers. The second one was similar but the South African batsman top-edged it and the ball went into Mitchell Johnson’s hand. On the very next ball, Rana cleaned up the RCB captain.

Although it was a gamble played by Karthik it eventually became a masterstroke as Rana dismissed both the dangerous batsman in the same over. The two consecutive dismissals certainly pulled back RCB’s total.

#3 Change of bowling: Introducing Umesh Yadav

Yadav returned to his old stomping ground and delivered some crucial wickets

KKR had already scored 65 runs in the first five overs of the power play. Sunil Narine was hitting the ball out of the park at will and had reached his fifty in only 17 balls.

It was then when Kohli introduced Umesh Yadav in the attack.

On his very second ball, Yadav cleaned up Narine and in the next over he sent Robin Uthappa back to the pavilion. With some short and fast stuff, Yadav bought RCB right back in the game.

The introduction of the former KKR pacer in the bowling attack at just the right time was indeed a masterstroke by captain Kohli.

#4 Attacking RCB’s spinners from the start

The spinners had an off day for RCB

Kohli decided to start the innings with wrist spin of Yuzvendra Chahal. From ball one Narine showed no mercy on the leggie and smacked him for two boundaries on the first two deliveries.

He also hit young Washington Sundar for 29 runs in his first two overs. The two spinners went for 77 runs in the seven overs they bowled.

The decision to hit the spinners from the very first ball and not allow them to settle down was indeed a masterstroke from KKR side that played a huge role in them winning this match.