IPL 2018, Match 29: Kolkata Knight Riders beat Royal Challengers Bangalore by 6 wickets

Opener Chris Lynn anchored his innings to perfection as Kolkata Knight Riders were back to winning ways with a comfortable six-wicket win against Royal Challengers Bangalore in an IPL encounter on Sunday. Chasing a sub-par target of 176, KKR reached the target in 19.1 overs with Lynn scoring an unbeaten 62 off 52 balls with seven fours and a six.

At the onset of the chase, Lynn and Sunil Narine (27 off 19 balls) provided a solid if not spectacular foundation adding 51 runs in the powerplay overs. Lynn's straight six off a Umesh Yadav yorker was exhilarating but he was lucky to get a reprieve when he miscued a lofted shot trying to hit Yuzvendra Chahal against the turn but Murugan Ashwin misjudged it completely. Lynn, however, kept playing the sweep shot against spinners with varying degree of success as RCB clawed their way back into the match during the middle overs. But Lynn kept his composure in the company of skipper Dinesh Karthik to win it for KKR.

KKR captain Dinesh Karthik relishing his newfound role as a finisher, played his part with a 10-ball-23 to make it easy in the end. KKR with eight points remained in fourth place while Virat Kohli's men slumped further with their fifth defeat in seven games.

Earlier, skipper Kohli was once again the stand-out performer with an unbeaten 44-ball-68 as Royal Challengers Bengaluru managed a below-par 175 for 4 in 20 overs.  It was a patchy batting performance from the home team and Indian captain's fourth half-century of the season ensured that they had some kind of a total on board. Kohli's innings comprised of five fours and three sixes while Brendon McCullum contributed 38 off 28 balls.

RCB lost next two back-to-back wickets in the 10th over when McCullum was caught off Russell and Manan Vohra (0) made a hash of a low full-toss. Mandeep Singh (19) became Russell's third victim. A slower delivery on off-stump, Mandeep swung and did not get the elevation he needed and Shivam Mavi took the catch at deep midwicket.