Virat Kohli’s heroic outing leads Royal Challengers Bengaluru to a victory over Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL season opener

Royal Challengers bengaluru (RCB) have won the opening clash of the 18th edition of Indian Premier Leaguue (IPL) against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by 7 wickets, where RCB had won the toss and decided to bowl first.

Coming to bat, KKR was given their first blow as Quinton de Kock was dismissed in the very first over. Ajinkya Rahane and Sunil Narine then stitched up a partnership that took the team to over 100 runs. Their partnership was broken when Sunil got caught out, soon followed by dismissal of Rahane. KKR was 3 down at 107 by 10 overs.

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After the half-inning mark, the team lost Venkatesh Iyer and Rinku Singh, leaving the team at5 down by 15 overs for 145 runs. The batting lineup then saw dismissals of Andre Russell, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, and at Harshit Rana at small intervals. The Kolkata-based franchise managed to post a total of 174 on the board for he loss of 8 wickets.

RCB innings began strong, as openers Virat Kohli and Phil Salt scored 80 runs within the powerplay itself. Salt soon completed his half-century, but then got dismissed after a few deliveries. Rajat Patidar came in and played greatly, but missed out on half century by a single run.

Virat Kohli showed his brilliant form of the 20-over format, as he scored a half-century, along with Liam Livingstone who had come at 5th place and lead his team towards victory. Kohli ended the match with an unbeaten score of 59 runs.

Brief scores:

Kolkata Knight Riders- 174/8- 20 overs
Royal Challengers Bengaluru- 177/3- 16.2 overs