IPL 2017: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore, Player ratings

For the Kolkata Knight Riders, it’s a distant dream which has come true- to be on the winning side of the lowest ever team total in the Indian Premier League. For the Royal Challengers Bangalore, it was more horrifying than even a nightmare.

Eden Gardens became the witness to one of the most astonishing collapses in history of cricket, leave alone the Indian Premier League. After being dismissed for a paltry 131 runs, few people would have given Kolkata Knight Riders the chance of making a comeback in the game.

However, the Knights, instead of being submissive, showed tremendous resilience to dismiss the Royal Challengers Bangalore for 49 runs. While KKR held their number two position, RCB went one place down to number eight in the league table.

We take you through the ratings of the players in today’s game.

Kolkata Knight Riders

Gautam Gambhir- 6.5/10

The man from Delhi got a couple away to the boundary to kick start his innings promisingly, but a beautiful delivery from Tymal Mills kissed Gambhir’s gloves and went in straight into the hands of the keeper. With a six and a four, he could only muster 14 runs in 11 deliveries.

Sunil Narine- 10/10

It was another blistering start for the man from Trinidad and Tobago as he plundered 18 runs in the first over of Samuel Badree- his T&T teammate. With 34 runs from 17 balls, he gave another flying start to the Knights.

Robin Uthappa- 5/10

Robin Uthappa had a brilliant game against the Lions and wished to carry forward the good form against the Challengers. The wicket-keeper batsman commenced his knock with a classy straight drive, but couldn’t take his innings forward as he was trapped right in front of the stumps by a straight delivery from Samuel Badree.

Manish Pandey- 5/10

Pandey has been in prime form in this season’s IPL with a couple of stupendous knocks. Today was surely not his day as he struggled during the span of his innings, lasting 16 balls. He pained to 15 runs before spooning a full toss into the hands of mid-wicket.

Yusuf Pathan- 4/10

Yusuf Pathan has displayed tremendous temperament with the willow in hand. However, the man from Baroda didn’t have the best of days as he could only score 8 runs at a run a ball. Yuzvendra Chahal, eventually, got the better of him, with a delivery outside leg stump. Yusuf was left stranded and Jadhav did the rest by taking off the bails in time.

Sunil Narine has been a revelation with the bat in hand

Surya Kumar Yadav- 4/10

Yadav, like the other Knight Riders’ batsmen, found it difficult to get to terms with the track Eden Gardens. He struggled to 15 runs in 19 balls before he ran out of patience and played an ugly heave that led to his dismissal.

Colin de Grandhomme- 7/10

It was Grandhomme’s second match for the Knight Riders and he had yet another horrendous outing as he was dismissed for a duck in his second ball. He tried to play the ball over mid-off, but was completely bamboozled by some vicious turn and the ball went into the hands of Virat Kohli.

With the ball though, he was right on his mark, picking up three batsmen’s wickets for just four runs.

Chris Woakes- 9/10

With three wickets, conceding six runs, Woakes was at the top of his game with the ball in hand and with the wicket of Gayle, he set the cat among the pigeons in the RCB dugout. Woakes had a decent game with the bat as well, he steadied the ship to some extent by churning out three boundaries in his knock of 18.

Nathan Courter-Nile- 9.5/10

Courter Nile was the man who started the havoc by getting rid of the RCB skipper. There was no stopping Courter-Nile as he inflicted two more blows to rub off any chances of a comeback for the Red Army. He didn’t utilise his opportunity with the bat though, getting dismissed for two runs.

Kuldeep Yadav- 4/10

With the pacers delivering the goods for the Knights, Kuldeep’s skills with the ball wasn’t in demand on a pitch conducive to fast bowling. With the bat, it would have been harsh to expect him to get a decent score when the more accomplished batsmen failed to get going. Nevertheless, he scored four vital runs for his side, before being cleaned up.

Umesh Yadav- 8/10

Umesh Yadav, like the other KKR pacers, had a good outing with the ball in hand. He got the crucial wicket of Mandeep Singh to leave RCB reeling at 3/2 in the second over. With 15 runs in three overs, Yadav was on the money.

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Royal Challengers Bangalore

RCB’s poor season sees a new low

Chris Gayle- 4/10

The Universal Boss tried to play differently from his natural game after a flurry of wickets. However, he ran out of patience and went for an ambitious pull over mid-wicket. The ball hurried onto him as he couldn’t handle the height and therefore top-edged into the bucket like hands of Nathan Courter-Nile.

Virat Kohli- 1/10

King Kohli, after missing the first few games, hit the chords from the word go since his first game. It wasn’t a happy day for the Indian skipper as he perished for a golden duck. Kohli went for the drive but edged it into Manish Pandey’s hands to give the Knights their first wicket.

AB de Villiers- 4/10

AB de Villiers is a stalwart of the RCB batting set-up, and rightly so, considering his prowess with the bat. He hushed the crowed when he flicked away the ball for a boundary to get off the mark.

To the delight of the Knights and dismay of the Challengers, his innings was short-lived as a short delivery from Courter-Nile hurried onto the South African and it accounted for his dismissal.

Kedar Jadhav- 3/10

Jadhav, previously, had dragged RCB out of the pits and was looking determined to steer RCB to a zone of safety. He was starting to bring sanity into the innings, but unfortunately, a leading edge off the bowling of Nathan Courter Nile got rid of him, providing the Knights their fourth scalp.

Mandeep Singh- 2/10

After the loss of Virat Kohli, the onus was on Mandeep Singh to put things back on track for the Challengers. It didn’t pan out that way as the Punjab batsman cut a short ball from Umesh Yadav into the hands of the point fielders to leave RCB two down for just five runs on the board.

Virat Kohli got out for a golden duck

Stuart Binny- 5/10

Stuart Binny was carted four two boundaries in the first three overs of the only over he bowled for the Challengers. He came back to inflict the body blow for KKR as he got rid of the dangerous Sunil Narine, which is deemed to spark the extraordinary collapse.

With the bat, he could only garner a couple of boundaries before being shown the door by Chris Woakes.

Pawan Negi- 7/10

Pawan Negi has shown his brilliance while bowling in the death overs- a testament to his potential to perform under pressure. He added to his reputation by first picking up Surya Kumar Yadav and then dismissing Nathan Courter-Nile. Nonetheless, with the bat, he hardly impressed as he was trapped plumb in front of the stumps by Colin de Grandhomme.

Tymal Mills – 8/10

Tymal Mills got a pasting from the KKR openers in his opening spell and went at 10 runs per over in his first two overs. However, he came back with a spell of 7 runs and 2 wickets in his remaining two overs, that had wickets of Gambhir and an ominous looking Chris Woakes.

Samuel Badree- 7/10

The leg-spinner from West Indies had a horrendous start to his spell courtesy counter-attack by Narine. Nevertheless, the wily spinner made a superlative comeback as he conceded a mere 15 runs in his remaining 3 overs and also snapped Robin Uthappa. The first over hardly flustered him as he put a lid on the scoring in his second spell.

Sreenath Aravind- 7/10

The left arm pacer from Karnataka went for a few runs in his first three overs courtesy the blistering start by the Knight Riders batsmen. He came back to bowl the final over and cleaned up Kuldeep Yadav with a perfect Yorker. Yadav game himself room, but the toe-crusher was too good to handle for the tail-ender.

Yuzvendra Chahal- 9.5/10

The chess player was clearly the pick of the Challengers bowlers as he extracted prodigious turn from the wicket. Not only did he halt the run-flow, but picked up three vital wickets. He pinned down Pandey, Pathan and the big-hitting Colin de Grandhomme in his quota of 4 overs, conceding 16 runs.