IPL 2018, RCB vs KKR: Chris Lynn guides visitors to 6-wicket win

Bengaluru: Royal Challengers Bangalore slumped to yet another defeat in the 2018 Indian Premier League (IPL) as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) cruised to a six wicket win at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Sunday.

After KKR won the toss and elected to field, RCB posted 175-4 on board but the target was chased down without much trouble by the visitors.

Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine got KKR off to a flyer before Ashwin Murugan removed the Windies all-arounder. Lynn went on to stitch another partnership with Robin Uthappa, but Ashwin struck once again to keep Virat Kohli and co in the hunt.

However, despite the loss of partners at the other end, the hard-hitting Lynn slammed a majestic 70-run knock comprising of seven fours and one six as KKR never let the opposition get a sniff of a victory.

KKR 172-4 after 19 overs:

WICKET! Virat Kohli takes a stunner to send Dinesh Karthik back to the pavilion. Anushka Sharma is impressed!

KKR 147-3 after 17 overs:

WICKET! The birthday boy has to depart for a golden duck. Banged in short by Siraj and Russell is too early into his pull shot, giving a leading edge. Quinton de Kock runs backwards and safely collects it.

KKR 112-2 after 13 overs:

CAUGHT IN THE DEEP! He's done it again. Tossed up, inviting the batsman to take him on and Uthappa take the aerial route. Finds Tim Southee at long on.

KKR 67-1 after 8 overs:

QUICK GUN MURUGAN! Tossed up outside off stump, Narine looks to go big and ends up slicing it towards Grandhomme at the long off boundary.

KKR 51-0 after 6 overs:

Sunil Narine and Andre Russell have begun the run chase in fine fashion for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) but due to rain, play has been halted.

Action is expected to resume at 10:50 P.M. IST. No overs will be lost.

1st innings: Virat Kohli once again led from the front as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) posted a solitary target of 176 for the Kolkata Knight Riders to chase at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore on Sunday.

After KKR won the toss and elected to field, Quinton de Kock and Brendon McCullum provided the hosts a steady start. But the stand was soon broken by Kuldeep Yadav.

Birthday boy Andre Russell then piled further pressure with twin strikes in one over in the form of the Kiwi batsman and Manan Vohra.

Kohli then soaked the pressure by stiching a fifty partnership with Mandeep Singh before Russell dismissed the latter.

Captain Kohli smacked a rocking 68-run knock of 44 deliveries to help his side post a challenging total of 175-4 on board.

RCB 150-4 after 18 overs:

WICKET! Birthday boy Andre Russell on a roll. Slow delivery outside off and Mandeep rocks back and pulls it straight towards Mavi at deep mid-wicket.

RCB 79-3 after 11 overs:

BOWLED HIM! Russell delivers again again. Nice and full, swinging in. Manan Vohra gets an inside edge that crashes on his leg stump.

WICKET! Not much effort there. Short delivery and McCullum is too early into his pull. The ball nicks of the toe of the bat and pops to Karthik behind the wickets.

RCB 70-1 after 9 overs:

WICKET! Kuldeep draws first blood for KKR. Slower one, turning away from the batsman and de Kock's punch over cover can only find Shubman Gill in the deep.

RCB 67-0 after 8 overs:

FIFTY PARTNERSHIP! Just the start the team needed. Brendon McCullum has played the anchor's role while Quinton de Kock has also done a fine job in rotating the strike.

Preview: Having narrowly lost their last few games, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) will aim to get back to winning ways when they host Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru here on Sunday.

Both sides have endured a mixed campaign so far and have picked up only two wins since they last faced each other. KKR are placed on the fourth spot while Virat Kohli and co sit on the sixth place with only four points from six games.

And they will have plenty of issues to address when they lock horns once again. For the most part this season, it is the shoddy bowling display that has let down both KKR and RCB. The hosts have not been so clinical in the death overs, boasting the worst economy rate. Meanwhile, for KKR, the spinners have not been getting the early breakthroughs as they are yet to spot the perfect combination for their batting.

A victory for either of the teams could prove to be crucial for their morale.

Toss:

Dinesh Karthik has won the toss and has decided his team KKR will bowl first. Here's how both the teams line up for today -

Squads:

Royal Challengers Bangalore: Virat Kohli (Captain), Quinton de Kock(WK), Brendon McCullum, AB de Villiers, Sarfaraz Khan, Mandeep Singh, Chris Woakes, Washington Sundar, Kulwant Khejroliya, Umesh Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Colin de Grandhomme, Moeen Ali, Manan Vohra, Aniket Choudhary, Navdeep Saini, Murugan Ashwin, Pawan Negi, Mohammed Siraj, Corey Anderson, Parthiv Patel, Aniruddha Joshi, Pavan Deshpande, Tim Southee.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Dinesh Karthik (Captain/WK), Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa, Mitchell Johnson, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Shubman Gill, Ishank Jaggi, Nitish Rana, Vinay Kumar, Apoorv Wankhade, Rinku Singh, Shivam Mavi, Cameron Delport, Javon Searles, Tom Curran, Prasidh Krishna.

When is the match?

The match is scheduled to start at 8 P.M. IST on Sunday (April 29).

Where is the match?

The match will take place at the M Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bengaluru.

Live telecast and timings:

With Star India now acquiring the media rights from Sony Pictures Network India for the upcoming season, the matches will be telecast on various Star Sports channels.

Live streaming:

The matches can be viewed live on Hotstar.com or on the Hotstar app.