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A century stand by Will Jacks and Rajat Patidar could not prevent another heartbreaking loss for Royal Challengers Bengaluru as they agonisingly fell short by one run against the Kolkata Knight Ridersat the Eden Gardens on Sunday, April 21, 2024.
Earlier, Phil Salt (48 off 14) and Shreyas Iyer (50 off 36 balls) helped KKR reach 222 for 6 in their 20 overs.
Chasing 223 for victory, RCB lost their openers early before Jacks and Patidar launched a fight back.
The best batters on the night...
Phil Salt
Salt started off in streaky fashion. He got off the mark with a six off the leading edge as he looked to hit Mohammed Siraj across the line in the opening over. But the next came off the middle as he pulled the pacer for a four through midwicket.
While RCB's pacers managed to keep Sunil Narine in check by bowling full and on the pads, Salt ensured KKR got off to a flying start in the Powerplay.
He hit Yash Dayal for two boundaries in the second over before taking Lockie Ferguson to the cleaners in his first over.
Salt slammed the Kiwi pacer for 6, 4, 4, 6, 4, 4 off successive deliveries to help KKR race past 50, in the fourth over.
He missed out on a well-deserved fifty as he holed out Siraj to deep square leg after a blistering 48 from 14 balls -- including three sixes and seven fours.
Shreyas Iyer
KKR's captain kept his team going in the middle overs with a fluent half-century.
After a quickfire start, KKR lost their way, with three wickets falling for 19 runs in 11 balls, as RCB's bowlers chipped away at the wickets.
Iyer got going with a beautiful straight drive off Ferguson for a boundary in the seventh over and followed it up with two boundaries off leg-spinner Karn Sharma in the next over.
He also played a delightful reverse sweep off the leggie for a boundary past point.
He slammed pacer Yash Dayal for a six and a boundary in the 17th over to bring up his fifty from 35 balls as KKR regained the momentum in the second half of their innings.
Iyer perished in the 18th over, caught by a diving Faf du Plessis off Cameron Green after a handy innings of 50 from 37 balls -- his first fifty of IPL 2024.
Andre Russell (27 off 20) and Ramandeep Singh eventually propelled KKR past the 200 run mark as they clobbered RCB's bowlers and took 67 runs off the last four overs.
Will Jacks
RCB's No. 3 batter came at the fall of Virat Kohli with the scorecard reading 27 for 1 in 2.1 overs And the Englishman wasted little time in making his intent known as he slashed Harshit Rana for a six over third man.
He didn't let Du Plessis's dismissal affect him as he swept Varun Chakravarthy for a four in the same over. He then sent Narine to the boundary in the next over.
He took a liking to Mitchell Starc whom he sent to the cleaners in the 6th over. Here's how the over read -- 6-6-0-0-6-4 -- as 22 came in the final over of; the Powerplay. Starc was too full or too short and was given the treatment.
Jacks then went after Chakravarthy and hammered him for a six over deep mid wicket. He brought up his maiden IPL fifty in the same over with a four over sweeper cover.
Not once through his innings of 55 (32) did he take his foot off the pedal and he complimented Rajat Patidar nicely as the two stitched up a 100 run stand before he was caught at long on off Andre Russell.
Rajat Patidar
Patidar had been out of form till Sunday, but showed glimpses of his immense talent that IPL fans are aware of, as he took down KKR bowlers to regain his touch.
Coming in at No. 4, Patidar dealt in singles, allowing Jacks to dominate at the other end.
But when his opportunity came, he took it with both hands.
He hit his first six when he lofted KKR's Impact Substitute, spinner Suyash Sharma, over long off in the 8th over.
Patidar toyed with Suyash, hammering him for two fours, two maximums and a couple in the 10th over, taking 22 runs off the bowler.
Narine was bowling a tight line, until he met with Patidar's brute force. Patidar slog swept for a six over deep mid wicket in the 11th over to bring up his half-century, his first this season. He was out the next over, but he had done his job, taking RCB out of a precarious position along with Jacks.
Karn Sharma
The IPL veteran came in at the fall of Suyash Prabhudessai's wicket with 36 needed off 17.
With Dinesh Karthik searching for the big shots, he didn't get much strike early on. But once DK was back in the hut and with 21 needed off the last over, he thumped Starc for three sixes and took RCB on the brink of victory before being caught and bowled by Starc. He had scored 20 off 7 deliveries.
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