A dominant Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) outclassed Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by nine wickets at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi to begin their second leg of the Indian Premier League (IPL) with a victory. Winning the toss, Virat Kohli opted to bat, a decision that did not pay dividends.

The Bangalore-based team surrendered meekly, getting bowled out for a paltry 92, to a potent KKR bowling unit as Andre Russell and Varun Chakravarthy ran riot.

In reply, the KKR opening duo of Shubman Gill (48) and debutant Venkatesh Iyer (41) played brilliantly as they made light work of the RCB total, overhauling it in 10 overs.

Young Gill was sent packing by RCB spinner Yuzvendra Chahal as he miscued a glory shot, hoping to get a half-century. The result will not just boost their morale immensely but also improve KKR’s net run rate going ahead.

Opening the bowling, architect-turned-mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy (3/13) did the star turn with three wickets in an excellent four-over spell. Star all-rounder Andre Russell (3/9 in three overs) also bagged three wickets, including AB de Villiers’ golden duck, while there were two for Lockie Ferguson.

RCB opener Devdutt Padikkal was the highest scorer with 22 runs in a forgettable outing in skipper Virat Kohli’s 200th game for RCB.

Bowling the day’s second over, right-arm medium pacer Prasidh Krishna dealt RCB a big blow when he trapped Kohli LBW.

Having completed a double century of matches for RCB, Kohli went for a review but the ball-tracking technology confirmed that it was going on to hit the stumps. This was immediately after Kohli sent a Krishna delivery in front of square on the off-side for a lovely four.

New Zealand fast bowler Lockie Ferguson replaced Chakravarthy and the gifted Devdutt Padikkal smashed the pacer straight over his head to get things moving for RCB.

Krishna bowled back-to-back no balls (one front foot and one beamer) in the next over and while debutant Srikar Bharat failed to break the shackles, Padikkal capitalised on the extra delivery with a boundary.

Russell ended Bharat’s stay in the middle as the pressure mounted on the batsman.

At 52/4, RCB were in a spot of bother and it became worse with Glenn Maxwell’s departure.

It was only a matter of time that RCB folded and gave KKR an easy target to gun down.