Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) bowlers, Varun Chakravarthy and Andre Russell, wreaked havoc as Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) were bundled out for a paltry 92 in their Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 tie at the Sheikh Zayed Stadium in Abu Dhabi. It was RCB's sixth-lowest score in IPL history and 92 was also the sixth time Bangalore was bowled out for under 100 in IPL.
Architect-turned-mystery spinner Chakravarthy picked three for 13 runs in his impressive four-over spell while all-rounder Russell picked his share of three wickets for just nine runs, which included the golden-duck dismissal of AB de Villiers. Two others were snarred by Lockie Ferguson and one other by Prasidh Krishna, which was the prized wicket of captain Virat Kohli.
Devdutt Padikkal was the top scorer for the team with his knock of 22 runs in what was a forgettable outing for Kohli in his record 200th IPL appearance.
"Kudos to the whole bowling unit, it was a very disciplined bowling performance. I'm happy to do whatever the coach and the captain want me to do, be it bowling the first over or come back later. We did work a lot even during the last phase, credit goes to the team management. The plan was to attack the stumps, the ball was doing a bit initially, now it has flattened, so we just stuck to our plans," said Varun at the end of RCB's innings.
Five of RCB's under-100 total came against Kolkata, the most infamous of them being 49 all-out at the Eden Gardens in IPL 2017, which remains the lowest-ever total of a team in the league's history and second-lowest in T20 cricket. Only Delhi Capitals have more totals of less than 100 in IPL (10) followed by RCB's six.
RCB presently stand third in the IPL points table with five wins in seven matches during the first half of the league.
