Virat Kohli led- Royals Challengers Bangalore won their seventh match of this year’s IPL as they thrashed Kolkata Knight Riders in an one-sided encounter by 8 wickets.
Kolkata Knight Riders batted first and just managed to score 84 runs in 20 overs. Mohammad Siraj was brilliant with the ball as he gave away just 8 runs in his 4 over quota and picked 3 wickets.
Kolhi’s men were on top of their game right from the start of the chase and won the match with six and a half overs still left to play. With this win RCB moves up to second position in the points table and as of now they require just a single win to qualify for the play-offs.
“It was a late call to be honest (to give Siraj the new ball). Was thinking of giving Washy. When we got here, we saw the surface, it looked drier. At the toss I said that it was a good toss to lose. We would have batted first but the pitch just seemed to look much better under lights. We had the option of the plan to start with Washi and bring Morris in the second over, then we thought let’s give Siraj the new ball with Morris. Let him set the tone and then let Siraj try and swing the ball,” said Virat Kolhi in the post-match presentation.
“Even against Kings, he tried to york Gayle, that showed heart. He never loses belief and that’s contagious. His energy is amazing. A great, great addition to our squad. (On Siraj’s performance) Last year he had a tough year. Lot of people went quite hard at him. This time around he worked hard, he was really determined. He’s seeing the result now and we want him to continue.”