Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 21 runs to return to winning ways at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru. Chasing a stiff 201 runs to win, the hosts reached 179/8 in 20 overs, despite a half-century from their captain Virat Kohli. KKR’s mystery spinner Varun Chakaravarthy was in fine rhythm and finished with the best figures of 3/27 in his 4 overs. Suyash Sharma and Andre Russell claimed two wickets each.

After being put into bat first, Jason Roy and Narayan Jagadeesan (27) gave KKR a solid start by adding 83 runs in 9 overs. Roy (56) continued his brutal hitting to reach his half-century which included 4 fours and 5 sixes. Searching for a wicket, RCB finally got two as Vyshak Vijay Kumar dismissed both the openers in the same over. Venkatesh Iyer (31) and skipper Nitish Rana stitched a fine 80-run partnership for the third wicket.

Rana walked back after scoring a blistering 48 off just 21 balls. Wanindu Hasaranga brought RCB back into the game by removing both the well-settled batters in the same over. Rinku Singh chipped in with 18 while David Wiese hit two sixes in the final over, helping KKR reach a winning total of 200/5.

In reply, RCB got off to a shocking start as KKR’s impact substitute snaffled the wickets of Faf du Plessis (17) and Shahbaz Ahmed (2) inside the powerplay overs. Chakaravarthy then removed the most dangerous Glenn Maxwell for just 5. Mahipal Lomror did well to make 34 from 18 balls but other RCB batters failed to make a mark and eventually, lost the game in their backyard.