IPL 2020: KXIP succumb to heart-breaking defeat at the hands of KKR; Chris Morris shines in RCB’s win over CSK – Firstcricket News , Firstpost

Dinesh Karthik returned to form as Kolkata Knight Riders registered a thrilling two-run win over Kings XI Punjab in the first match of the double-header of IPL 2020 in Abu Dhabi on Saturday. Sportzpics

KKR won the toss and opted to bat. They lost Rahul Tripathi and Nitish Rana early, but Shubman Gill played a valiant knock of 57 off 47 balls (Five fours). Sportzpics

Ravi Bishnoi once again impressed for KXIP with figures of 1/25. He picked the wicket of England’s Eoin Morgan in the 11th over. KKR finished their innings at 164-6. Sportzpics

KL Rahul (74) and Mayank Agarwal (56) forged a 115-run opening partnership. The latter was dismissed by Prasidh Krishna in the 15th over, after which things went downhill for Punjab. From 115-1, they were restricted to 162-5, as KKR staged a remarkable turnaround to clinch their fourth win. Sportzpics

Captain Virat Kohli led from the front with a quickfire unbeaten knock of 90 (52 balls) as Royal Challengers Bangalore handed Chennai Super Kings their fifth loss. CSK’s batting once again disappointed as they lost by 37 runs. Sportzpics

RCB opted to bat after winning the toss. Devdutt Padikkal did his part, with a knock of 33 runs off 34 balls, including a 53-run stand with Virat Kohli. Sportzpics

Shardul Thakur scalped two wickets, but was expensive as he went for 40 runs from four overs. The latter half of RCB’s innings belonged to Bangalore themselves, as Kohli bolstered them to 169-4. Sportzpics

South Africa’s Chris Morris made his RCB debut, and made an instant impact, registering figures of 3/19 from four overs. Meanwhile, CSK lie in sixth position with four points following their latest loss, while RCB occupy fourth place with eight points. Sportzpics