Royal Challengers Bangalore’s lack of batting depth stood exposed yet again as it succumbed to a 21-run loss against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Wednesday. For KKR, it was a much-needed win that broke a sequence of four successive defeats.
Chasing 201, Virat Kohli played a lone hand, slashing and pulling his way to his fifth half-century of the season (54, 37b, 6x4). Faf du Plessis and Glenn Maxwell were out cheaply, and the likes of Mahipal Lomror, Shahbaz Ahmed and Suyash Prabhudessai, on whom the think-tank had placed much faith, failed to come good.
Lomror did show some spark (34, 18b, 1x4, 3x6), even hitting Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy for a combined three sixes. The 55-run partnership for the fourth wicket with Kohli did raise the hopes of the home faithful.
But their dismissals in a span of four balls proved it was another false dawn. Lomror was caught at deep mid-wicket off Varun (4-0-27-3) while Kohli holed out in the same area, with Venkatesh Iyer completing a fine low catch off Andre Russell.
-N. Sudarshan
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