Mohammad Siraj’s three-wicket haul and Gurkeerat Singh Mann’s unbeaten 21-run knock helped Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) gain an emphatic eight-wicket victory over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Wednesday here at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. With this win, RCB has gone to the second position in the points table with 14 points from 10 matches while KKR is at the fourth spot with 10 points. Chasing 85, RCB openers Devdutt Padikkal and Aaron Finch provided a solid start to the side as they put on 46 runs for the first wicket. KKR finally got the breakthrough in the seventh over as Lockie Ferguson dismissed Finch (16). In the same over, there was a mixup between Padikkal (25) and Gurkeerat Singh Mann and, as a result, the former had to lose his wicket, reducing RCB to 46/2.
In the end, RCB skipper Virat Kohli (18*) and Gurkeerat Singh Mann (21*) ensured that the side did not suffer from any more hiccups. RCB sailed to a comfortable eightwicket win with 39 balls to spare. Earlier, spectacular bowling performance by Mohammed Siraj and Yuzvendra Chahal restricted Kolkata Knight Riders at 84/8 in the allotted twenty overs. After electing to bat first, KKR had the worst start possible as the side lost three wickets with just three runs on the board. Chris Morris bowled the first over for RCB and just gave three runs off it. Mohammed Siraj came to bowl the second over and changed the momentum of the game as he scalped Rahul Tripathi (1) and Nitish Rana (0) and his over finished as a double-wicket maiden.
Along the course of this match, Siraj also became the first bowler to bowl two maiden overs in an IPL game. KKR was left reeling at 14-4 and it was left up to Eoin Morgan to help the side gain a respectable total. However, the KKR skipper did not find any support at the other end as Dinesh Karthik (4) and Pat Cummins (4) also disappointed with the bat. For RCB, Siraj returned with the figures of 3-8 while Chahal clinched two wickets.
Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 85/2 (Devdutt Padikkal 25, Gurkeerat Singh Mann 21*, Lockie Ferguson 1-17) defeat Kolkata Knight Riders 84/8 (Eoin Morgan 30, Lockie Ferguson 19, Mohammad Siraj 3-8) by eight wickets.