IPL 2021: Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Venkatesh Iyer shine in KKR’s romp over RCB-Firstcricket News , Firstpost

Kolkata Knight Riders began their second part of IPL 2021 season with a convincing 9-wicket win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in Abu Dhabi. The win propels KKR to fifth place, RCB remain third in the standings. Image: Sportzpics

Playing his 200th IPL match, Virat Kohli bagged an early boundary to show intent. But on the very next delivery he was beaten for pace by Prasidh Krishna to be caught leg before. The RCB captain opted to review but all three lights showed red on HawkEye with no inside edge to save him. Image: Sportzpics

Varun Chakaravarthy finished with three wickets from his quota of four overs. He conceded 13 runs while accounting for the dismissals of Glenn Maxwell, Sachin Baby and RCB’s debutant Wanindu Hasaranga. Image: Sportzpics

Another pick of the bowlers from the KKR camp was Andre Russell. He, too, picked three wickets from three overs while going for nine runs. His showing with the ball resulted in wickets of Srikar Bharat, AB de Villiers and Mohammed Siraj. Image: Sportzpics

Venkatesh Iyer and Shubman Gill made light of the paltry 93 run target. They stitched a strong 82 run stand while offering little hope to the RCB bowlers. Image: Sportzpics

Shubman Gill fell for 48 runs to Yuzvendra Chahal in what turned out to be a consolation for the Royal Challengers Bangalore. KKR were on 82 when Gill was holed out at long off and it brought about Andre Russell to the middle. Image: Sportzpics

Debutant Venkatesh Iyer remained unbeaten on 41 runs and struck the winning runs. He hit three quick boundaries to get the job done in the 10th over. Image: Sportzpics