Xtra Time Web Desk : Royal Challengers Bangalore on Wednesday sealed a 3 wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders in a nail biting low scoring thriller at the DY Patil Stadium, Mumbai.
Being put in to bat first by the Royal Challengers Bangalore, the Kolkata Knight Riders innings never really took off as openers Venkatesh Iyer and Ajinkya Rahane went off cheaply after slow starts.
Skipper Shreyas Iyer, who came into bat at 3 was also dismissed cheaply on the day by Sri Lankan wizard Wanindu Hasaranga alongside Nitish Rana, who was dismissed by Bengal pacer Akash Deep, who too had a brilliant match as he picked up 3 wickets, courtesy of some brilliant bowling.
The batters who came in after in Billings, Narine and Sheldon were also dismissed cheaply by the in form RCB bowlers, before Andre Russell scored some quick runs for the Kolkata franchise before getting dismissed by the superb Harshal Patel.
It was then a last wicket partnership from Umesh Yadav and Varun Chakravarthy, which helped KKR reach a respectable total of 128 in their 20 overs.
Coming in to bat second, the RCB top 3 including skipper Faf Du Plessis and Virat Kohli were dismissed cheaply by KKR pacers in Umesh Yadav and Tim Southee. But the middle order in Willey, Rutherford and Shahbaz helped the Bangalore franchise to turn around and take the match close before Dinesh Karthik finished off the match in style.
However, it was a great day for Bengal cricket as both Akash Deep and Shahbaz Ahmed gave match winning performances for their side.