Venkatesh Iyer’s ruthless fifty as Kolkata Knight Riders cruised to a seven-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium on Friday Catalyst for Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Venkatesh’s 30-ball fifty (3×4, 4×6) and a stunning blitz from openers Sunil Narine (47, 22b, 2×4, 5×6) and Phil Salt (30, 20b, 2×4, 2×6) propelled Knight Riders beyond 183 The target of RCB set them up with a foundation built around Virat Kohli’s skillful unbeaten 83-ball knock. The KKR batsmen were never troubled by slow bowling or the RCB bowlers as they chased down the target in just 16.5 overs.

The best example of their performance on the night was Venkatesh, who is struggling to regain his relevance in the white-ball format, who scored 75 runs for the third wicket along with skipper Shreyas Iyer (39 not out).

The left-hander found his range from the start and pacer Alzarri Joseph bore the brunt of his attacking intentions.

He bowled the West Indian for 20 runs in a game that included two sixes over cover and mid-wicket and a four-ball deflection to third man, besides a leg-bye boundary. .

Shreyas was bowled out by Yash Dayal ahead of impressive local pacer Vysakh Vijayakumar (1/23) , only plays a supporting role tonight.

But for this clean victory, KKR should be deeply grateful to Narine and Salt, who overwhelmed the RCB bowlers with their stunning power-hitting in the Power Play.

The visitors’ chase began with Narine and Salter putting up 86 runs in just 6.3 overs through a dazzling series of shots.

Salter started the carnage by allowing pacer Mohammed Siraj to score 18 runs in the first over, scoring two sixes and a four.

Nalin followed closely behind. After smashing two sixes off Joseph in the third over, the left-arm bowler spoiled left-arm pacer Dayal, hammering him for 21 runs, including three consecutive balls in the sixth over Four runs and two sixes in the over.

The surface at the Chinnaswamy Stadium was a bit sluggish but the RCB bowlers did little to take advantage of it with slower balls as did their Knight Riders counterparts.

It took left-arm spinner Mayank Dagar’s yorker to break the opening wicket partnership as Narine failed to stop a full-length delivery outside off-stump.

But by then, he had done his job.

Earlier, Kohli’s skillful unbeaten 50 laid the foundation for RCB’s competitive 182 for six.

Kohli (83, 59b, 4×4, 4×6) and Cameron Green (33 off 21b) squeezed in 65 runs from 42 balls for the second wicket, which was the main league in RCB’s innings as the home team was on the track A double attack was made, on the slower side.

A typical Dinesh Karthik cameo (20, 8b, 3×6) as usual towards the end added gravitas to the RCB total.

Skipper Faf du Plessis started early and the Royal Challengers skipper tried to snatch away pacer Harshit Rana but ended up in the circle of Mitchell In the hands of Mitchell Starc.

But they reached 61 for 1 in the Power Play section as Kohli and Green kept RCB on track with a busy stand.

Kohli bowled breaks and overs at cover, a new addition to his mix of bats, sweeps and long sweeps to get his runs, but the shot of the night was a blast from Starc, Scored six points.

In fact, no other shot can truly encapsulate Kohli’s batting quite like the slam – a product of his desire to find new ways to sustain his bowlers’ dominance.

A simple snap of the wrist and the power of a strong lower hand can turn this traditionally tame hit into a vicious running option.

Kohli scored 50 off 36 balls while every batsman except Green struggled with timing.

But Green isn’t really worried about those technical angles because his shots are all about brute strength.

Narine, who is playing his 500th T20 match, Green scored 15 runs in the first over of the spinners, which included a sequence of 4, 4, 6 – a sweep, a slap at cover and a long-on delivery, with Narine being hit by A heavy blow.

However, the burgeoning alliance was broken when Green tried to take a catch with Andre Russell and the ball hit his stumps.

Glenn Maxwell was dismissed twice, 11 and 21, en route to his 19-ball 28 but could not capitalize on the generosity of the KKR fielders as his luck eventually ran out in front of Narine.

A slash from the West Indian spinner ended up in the hands of Rinku Singh at deep point and Maxwell added for the third wicket with Kohli. Had to leave after 42 minutes.

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