IPL 2020: Chris Gayle recovers from food poisoning, likely to play in Sharjah

IPL 2020: Dinesh Karthik defends Rahul Tripathi's demotion following KKR's heavy defeat

Dinesh Karthik had a forgettable night at the wheel as Kolkata Knight Riders received a thrashing at the hands of Virat Kohli and Co. The playing XI gave an impression that the two-time champions are a bowler short in Sharjah. English cricketer Tom Banton replaced spinner Sunil Narine, and it resulted in Rahul Tripathi losing the opening slot. The move backfired in no time as Navdeep Saini’s searing pace got the better of a dodgy Banton early in the chase. KKR got off to a nervy start, getting to 50 in 7.4 overs. Shubman Gill too failed to show intent and he hardly got going, which put immense pressure on the rest of the batters. All the reputed customers fell like a pack of cards as the Bangalore side broke the back of Knight Riders’ famed batting line-up. On being asked whether KKR missed a trick by not sending an in-form Tripathi as an opener on a slowish track, Karthik replied to One Cricket, saying “No, I think once you play Tom Banton, you got to make sure that he opens because that is where he is best at. Also, Rahul Tripathi is versatile and he can adapt to any situation. So we went with Banton as he has opened at international cricket and has done well." The 82-run loss has put a dent on Kolkata’s run-rate, however, they still find themselves at the fourth spot with eight points while Royal Challengers have moved up to the third spot with ten points in their kitty. Powered by Froala Editor

IPL 2020 | KKR vs RCB: AB de Villiers, Washington Sundar bully KKR to impel RCB to third spot

Brief Scores: Royal Challengers Bangalore 194/2 (AB de Villiers 73*, Aaron Finch 47, Prasidh Krishna 1/42) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 112/9 (Shubman Gill 34, Andre Russell 16; Chris Morris 2/17) by 82 runs. Sharjah's featherbed unveiled its alter ego tonight as Royal Challengers Bangalore made light work of Kolkata Knight Riders to steamroll at fat 82-run win in the 28th match of the Indian Premier League 2020. AB de Villiers engineered a visual treat worth 73* off 33 balls before two-wicket hauls from Washington Sundar and Chris Morris sealed the deal, as RCB locomoted to the third spot on Monday, October 12. On a venue that has proven to be a spinner's worst nightmare, that wreckers-in-chief Yuzvendra Chahal and Sundar conceded just 32 runs in eight overs amongst them while booking three scalps deserves a 21-gun salute. KKR chase derails before taking flight Franchises generally don't lose sleep when asked to chase at Sharjah, regardless of the enormity of the task. Albeit the odds were heavily stacked against KKR tonight, given the demons lurking from the surface. And the dominoes tumbled in a rather uniform pattern. Tom Banton was a bundle of nerves on his debut, ricocheting Navdeep Saini's missile onto his stumps. Let alone playing his designated role of an enabler, Nitish Rana struggled even to navigate the ball off the thirty-yard circle, eventually perishing castled to an ungainly swipe off Sundar. Shubman Gill, the lone wolf who'd hitherto bound KKR's riposte with a sedate 34, fell prey to an episode of hideous miscommunication in an approach to sneak a tight run from backward point. Fresh off a morale-boosting half-century in a winning cause, talisman Dinesh Karthik couldn't come to KKR's rescue either as Chahal had him chopping on to a donkey-drop. Morgan, fit-again Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, and Rahul Tripathi each located catchers off miscued swats in their endeavour to narrow the deficit. Kamlesh Nagarkoti was the final casualty as RCB's net-run-rate tickled pink with a boost of such gigantic proportions. Finch bites the bullet to good results Having blown hot and cold in recent times, RCB's openers blazed a trail from the outset. Aaron Finch, a perpetual victim of the front-foot syndrome, had obviously gone back to the drawing board and figured out an escape route. What he did wasn't rocket science though. The right-hander shimmied down the track almost compulsively in a bid to negate the lateral movement and get his feet up and moving before impact. Safe to say, it worked like a charm. He whipped Pat Cummins through mid-wicket before putting his dancing shoes on to marmalize Prasidh Krishna over long-on. Devdutt Padikkal too made his presence felt with a couple of authoritative slashes off Pat Cummins, with no intentions whatsoever of keeping the ball along the turf. KKR read the conditions well to bounce back Assuming the responsibility of bowling the last over in the PowerPlay, Andre Russell banged hard seven-meter lengths to prod Finch into his shell while also mixing the pace to leave him guessing. The variations could've materialised in an incision had Nagarkoti not allowed Finch's aerial jab to burst through his fingers at short-fine. Declined entry in the wickets column, the star all-rounder took matters into his own hands, with his nippy yorker slinking underneath Padikkal's hoick to uproot the middle-stump for 32. Finch ploughed the same furrow, creating room to glide his arms only to let Krishna's half-volley strike timber. The scoreboard gleamed a trifling 107/2 in 14 overs despite breezy knocks from Padikkal and Finch, thanks to KKR thinking on their feet and amending their strategy midway to a cocktail of off-cutters and short-of-good knuckleballs. ABD beats the living daylights out of KKR However, the moment of truth awaited the purple shirts. Having bided his time initially to waddle to 10 off 11 balls, AB de Villiers threw caution to the wind, bulldozing an awesome 63 off the next 22 to pour cold water on KKR's stranglehold. Virat Kohli bore witness to this eye-popping massacre deliberately from the non-striker's end, milking singles to bring the range-hitting tormentor into the thick of the action during their century partnership for the third wicket. The increasingly sluggish nature of the pitch hardly ruffled de Villiers, who belaboured KKR left, right, and centre to help RCB raid a cosmic 80 off the last five overs. What's next in store? In the pink of their health with five victories in seven games, RCB shouldn't break a sweat in elbowing a woebegone Kings XI Punjab on Thursday, October 15. The next hurdle in KKR's ebb-and-flow ride is table-toppers Mumbai Indians, quite a daunting one at that, with whom they lock horns on Friday, October 16.

IPL 2020: Barring 'Super-man' AB de Villiers, every batsman struggled - Virat Kohli

Virat Kohli lavished praise on AB de Villiers after Royal Challengers Bangalore’s resounding victory over Kolkata Knight Riders in Sharjah on Monday. The veteran Proteas batsman hit a stunning 33-ball 73* to take RCB to 194/2 in 20 overs. The Bangalore outfit were 94/2 after 12.2 overs when De Villiers joined the company of Kohli. The skipper found it hard to hit boundaries throughout his knock of 28-ball 33*; he instead rotated strike at will to hand his senior partner a more dominating role. "We were very happy with the total. This pitch was drier. And the day was pleasant so we thought there would be no dew. Barring one superhuman [de Villiers], every batsman struggled on the pitch. The talk was around getting 165, but we got 195 [and] you know exactly why." Kohli said on the back of the 82-run win. The duo stitched a 100-run unbroken stand in 46 deliveries. Kohli credited De Villiers’ ‘genius’ for taking the side to a commanding position post the first innings. The win took RCB to the third position in the points table while Knight Riders find themselves at the fourth spot with eight points.

IPL 2020| RCB vs KKR: Hits and Flops as an AB de Villiers special seals the deal for Virat Kohli’s men

Coming on the back of a comprehensive win over the Chennai Super Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore took Kolkata Knight Riders to the cleaners as they defeated them by a huge margin of 82 runs. While RCB’s innings was more or less all about the AB de Villiers show, Kolkata could drag themselves to only 112 after being outfoxed by the spin duo of Washington Sunder and Yuzvendra Chahal. Choosing to bat first on a relatively slower track compared to previous Sharjah wickets, Virat Kohli and his men had a cautious start until a certain de Villiers entered the party. It was de Villiers with the bat and the spinners with the bowl that stood out for the RCB in their win against the Knight Riders. For the Kolkata team though, there was just no single person who could be called as not guilty in an effort that looked much like a waste of energy as the match ended in a classic one-sided affair. To pick two it would be the new entrant Tom Banton and the old fox Andre Russell, who would be called the culprits of the desert for KKR. All these players and their contribution (or the lack of it) in the game forms the part of the Hits and Flops segment of the match. Hits #1 AB de Villiers When de Villiers entered the ground with RCB at 94/2 in the 13th over and even after him being there for more than 10 deliveries and captain Kohli at the other end, the innings wasn’t actually moving one bit as the team slumbered to 112/3 in 15 overs. But as Kamlesh Nagarkoti was brought back into the attack, the former South African captain started smoking the balls out of the park. From 11 off 10 deliveries, de Villiers went damn crazy as ended up with 73 off 33 balls, which means, he scored the next 62 runs off just 23 balls. It was his inning that got RCB from ending at 160-175 to 195. The inning was so special, mostly because no other batsman had the ability skills, and execution to control the pace of the bowler that well. #2 Washington Sundar Sundar has been bowling brilliantly for the Challengers since the last 3-4 games, While in other games had generally been just economical, in this one, he chose to diversify his role as a wicket-taker and took two crucial wickets of Eoin Morgan and Nitish Rana. More than the wickets, what was important was the fact that he became un-hittable, and batsmen (who had not got out by then) tried to play him off as easily as possible, thereby stopping the flow of runs. The Tamil Nadu born ended up with the figures of 2/20 in his four overs. #3 Navdeep Saini Saini wasn’t among wickets in the match, he took only one. But that wicket was the one that shifted the balance in RCB’s favour. In his second over, he got rid of Tom Banton, the new entrant in the KKR playing eleven, with a ball that wasn’t just a ripper but almost a perfect length ball, beating Banton on all fronts and crashed through his defense. Saini though ended up with the figures 1/17 in three overs. Flops #1 Andre Russell Andre Russell is someone that KKR looks up to win them 3-4 games of the season single-handedly. However, this series has been one of the worst for the West Indian as he hasn’t been able to contribute much with the bat for the team. Apart from the game against Rajasthan Royals where he scored a quickfire 24 off 14 balls, nothing worth noticing has come from Russell’s bat. Even in today’s game, after bowling two responsible overs, the guy bowling theirs over was asked something and killed as well. #2 Tom Banton Playing only his 1st IPL game, Banton couldn’t actually handle the system as he was bowled by a KKR fast bowler. Banton's wicket put pressure on others to follow suit and thus many other people were wither bowled or caught out. But not being able to score, putting pressure on others make Banton a flop for sure. Having lost the game in such a bad way, Dinesh Karthik and Co. would cool off for the next three days before facing Mumbai Indians in Abu Dhabi. RCB would be up against the Kings XI Punjab in two days' time though.