RCB inflict fourth straight defeat on KKR

Virat Kohli scored a wonderful century to lead the Royal Challengers Bangalore to a nervous 10-run victory over the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Friday evening.

Full Scorecard

The tournament's most loved player, and man of the match, smashed nine boundaries and four sixes before falling off the final ball for 100 from 58 deliveries as RCB amassed 213 for four after being asked to bat first. The Knight Riders were dead and buried 60 for three at the halfway mark but a brilliant partnership for the fifth wicket between striker of the match Andre Russell (65) and Nitish Rana (85 not out) of 118 off only 53 deliveries almost saw their side home, ending short on 203 for five.

Dale Steyn (4-0-40-2) made an immediate impact on his return to the IPL after a nine year absence, claiming the early wickets of Chris Lynn (1) and Shubman Gill (9) inside the Power Play but Russell, as he has done on many occasions this season, launched the attack on the RCB bowlers, smashing nine sixes, taking his tournament tally to 39, and two fours, faced just 25 balls before being run out in the final over with a throw from the deep by Kohli.

Sunil Narine's effort opening the innings fell short after 16 balls, striking four fours before being caught by Parthiv Patel behind the stumps off Navdeep Saini (4-0-31-1) while Robin Uthappa (9) used up valuable balls, facing 20 in all before being caught in the deep by Pawan Negi off Marcus Stoinis (4-0-32-1).

Rana, who faced 46 balls and struck the last delivery for six off Moeen Ali (1-0-13-0), struck nine fours and five sixes in total in an effort that was almost heroic along with Russell but in the end, it was a bridge too far for the home side, who have now suffered four straight defeats, three of which have been at home.

Earlier, Kohli and Ali (66) produced some fireworks of their own to boost the visitors to over the 200-run mark after languishing at 70 for three at the halfway mark. Kohli, who struck his fifth IPL century, survived an early call for leg before but the decision was turned down on referral.

The visitors suffered two early setbacks with Patel (11) and Akshdeep Nath (13) falling to Narine (4-0-32-1) and Russell (3-0-17-1) respectively before Kohli and Ali got together and posted an enigmatic stand of 90 from 44 balls for the third wicket which gave Bangalore the belief that their bowlers had something to defend.

Stylish player of the match Ali, who struck his third IPL half-century from just 24 balls, struck five boundaries and six maximums, taking 27 runs off Kuldeep Yadav's (4-0-59-1) final over before being caught on the long-on boundary by Pradisdh Krishna for his wonderful 66. That over from the legspinner realised his most expensive spell in the IPL to date.

The departure of Ali did not stem the flow of runs as Kohli and Stoinis (17 not out) smashed 64 runs from only 26 balls for the fourth wicket stand.

KNIGHT RIDERS: Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana, Robin Uthappa, Dinesh Karthik (capt, wk), Shubman Gill, Andre Russell, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Prasidh Krishna, Harry Gurney.

ROYAL CHALLENGERS BANGALORE:Parthiv Patel (wk), Virat Kohli (capt), Moeen Ali, Marcus Stoinis, Heinrich Klaasen, Akshdeep Nath, Pawan Negi, Dale Steyn, Mohammed Siraj, Yuzvendra Chahal, Navdeep Saini.