JOIN USIPL 2021 Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore highlights: KKR beat RCB by 9 wickets
With this thumping win over RCB, KKR move to the fifth spot on the points table with6 points from 8 games. RCB remain third in the league with10 points from 8 matches. Tomorrow we shall see Rajasthan Royals taking on Punjab Kings at Dubai International Cricket stadium. Join us for the coverage of that match. Goodnight for now!
Player of the Match
KKR's VarunChakravarthy wins the Player of the Match award. The spinner bowled a brilliant spell of 4-0-13-3.
Varun Chakravarthy:I try to assess the pitch first. It was flat only. Would like to give credit to the bowlers who bowled in the powerplay for the discipline. There wasn't much in the pitch. Wasn't much spin on offer so I had to keep it on the stumps. I thought it was outon the hattrick ballbut just saw the replay that there was an inside edge. Definitely made me feel better, and got a sense of acceptance from the people around me. Started very late in my career. Now me getting picked for India gives me a sense of acceptance.
Eoin Morgan, KKR captain:Very rarely do you perform as well as we have today. The talent we have within our squad, it counts for nothing, you have to still go out and show how strong you are and we did today. I didn't think the wicket changed a great deal, RCB started well, but taking a wicket at the backend of the PP changed things for us. Collectively, we took valuable wickets. Maxwell,de Villiers andVirat - we managed to get on top of all of them, it isvery rare as well. As a group, with the expressive nature with which the guys play, playing under me or Baz, should be an absolute treat. We're not going to knock people for playing their shots. We have a long way to go, need a lot of things to go right. Today isthe right start, need that run of confidence. We haven't turned up for the majority of the tournament, but today was a great start.
Virat Kohli, RCB captain: It was important to get a good partnership. We didn't expect that much dew to kick in that early. From 42 for 1, we lost 5 wickets for 20-odd. the loss is a bit of a wake-up call, we might as well have this at the start of the second leg so that we know what we should work on. You can make the argument that we were rusty but as professionals, you are expected to turn up and adjust. Sometimes it can take you a game, I hope not two, to get into the tournament, you have to stay with the eight-ball, if you're not, the other teams will be all over you. Pretty good from Varun, he isgoing to be a key factor when he plays for India. It's great guys who've got the opportunity to play at the international level. He's someone who is going to play in the near future for India, it's a great sign. We have five wins from eight, matches andwe expect a loss here and there, it's part and parcel, need to be professional, stick to our strengths and execute our plans. We have absolute confidence in our squad to pull up next game onwards and put in strong performances.