Kolkata Knight Riders took on Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers
Bangalore in Abu Dhabi as both teams looked to resume their IPL campaigns on a high
note. This was Kohli’s first match after he announced that this would be
his last season leading the franchise as a captain.

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RCB won the toss and chose to bat first, a decision that
backfired very quickly. For a team that’s known all over the world for its
batting prowess, RCB’s performance in the first innings was dismal. The whole
batting line-up crumpled for a total of 92 runs and recorded the franchise’s
sixth-lowest IPL total.

KKR, in return, chased down the target in 10 overs and registered an emphatic victory.

Bangalore lost Virat Kohli early, he managed to
score five runs before getting trapped LBW youngster Prasidh Krishna. Despite that, it looked like the batting
side was getting back on track with the beginning of a partnership between
Devdutt Padikkal and debutant Srikar Bharat.

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But it all went downhill the moment Devdutt Padikkal ended
up playing the ball straight into Dinesh Karthik’s hands off a Lockie Ferguson delivery. RCB went from 41/1 to 63/6 in a span of five overs.

In a game-changing over, Srikar Bharat lost his wicket while
trying to score a boundary on Andre Russel’s delivery. This led to AB de
Villiers entering the pitch, but he didn’t last long. Mr 360 was clean bowled
on his very first ball by KKR’s star all-rounder.

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At this moment, Varun Chakravarthy decided to join the party
and took the next three wickets. Glenn Maxwell, Sachin Baby and Wanindu Hasaranga
became his prey which essentially ensured that RCB would not put on a big
score.

Andre Russel bagged three wickets in his three overs while
conceding just nine runs. While, our very own architect-turned-spinner Varun
Chakravarthy recorded a three-wicket haul while conceding just 13 runs in his
four overs.

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Its fair to say that Virat Kohli’s 200th game in
the Indian Premier League did not go as planned. RCB will be looking to get
back in form after an impressive start to this year’s campaign.