CHENNAI: Shreyas Iyer's cautious half-century and some late hitting from Ramandeep Singh took Kolkata Knight Riders to 222 for six against Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Bengaluru won the toss and opted to bowl first in the hot conditions at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata.
Mohammed Siraj and Yash Dayal did not let Sunil Narine, the centurion from the previous fixture, free his arm, but they could not halt Phil Salt in the powerplay. Lockie Ferguson came under attack when Salt smashed 28 runs off his first ever to take Kolkata past 50 in the fourth over.
Siraj came back to break the partnership as Salt's carnage came to an abrupt end in the fifth over. Kolkata collapsed a bit in the final over of the powerplay when Dayal dismissed Narine and Angkrish Raghuvanshi as Kolkata ended the powerplay with 75 runs and three wickets on the board.
With wickets falling at the other end captain Iyer took a cautious approach and tried to rebuild the innings. First, he added a quickfire 22 with Venkatesh Iyer followed by 40 run partnership with Rinku Singh.
Bengaluru bowlers and fielders slowed Kolkata's scoring rate, but the duo found boundaries at regular intervals. Ferguson finally got a wicket as Dayal took an easy catch at short fine leg to send Singh back. Andre Russell nicked one off the first ball he faced, but it was declared no ball by the umpire.
From 142 for five after 14 overs Shreyas and Russell tried to change the gears and finally got successful when Dayal came back for his second spell.
22 runs off Dayal's third over gave Kolkata the momentum they needed and despite losing Shreyas after his first half-century of the match, Russell and Ramandeep Singh continued the onslaught.
Ramandeep hit Siraj for two sixes and a boundary and Kolkata crossed the 200 mark in the penultimate over. 16 runs in the final over, bowled by Dayal meant Kolkata posted 222 in the first innings.
Brief score: 222/6 in 20 overs (Shreyas Iyer 50, Phil Salt 48; Cameron Green 2/35) vs KKR