KKR hands RCB one of the heaviest defeats in IPL history

A match to forget for RCB where everything just went off the rails. This is one of the heaviest defeats in IPL history in terms of balls to spare. Only four times has any team won with more overs left than KKR’s 10 today. It can happen though. It’s only the start of a whole new leg of the tournament – one where RCB are still very well placed. And they would’ve been confident coming into this one, given their recent record over KKR. But it all fell apart today after winning the toss. Bowled out for just 92, before Gill and Iyer hammered those runs down. 

Winning with most balls to spare in IPL
87 MI v KKR Mumbai 2008
76 KTK v RR Indore 2011
73 PBKS v DC Mohali 2017
71 RCB v PBKS Indore 2018
60 KKR v RCB Abu Dhabi 2021 (Today)

Stat: Sixth successive defeat for RCB in UAE. Incidentally, their last win came against KKR at the same venue when they restricted KKR to 84/8 in 20 overs and chased it down in 13.3 overs.

What this Means for KKR

That break in the middle has meant a new look to their XI, and suddenly it looks like this team will go right till the end in the league stages. They have a few more matches in Abu Dhabi, and on tonight’s evidence, they have the bowling attack to challenge the best. That will literally be put to test against Mumbai Indians, whom they face next. For now, they’re up at fifth place with a good net run-rate.

Nothing to Panic for RCB

RCB are third with ten points and a couple of wins away from sealing a qualifiers’ spot. They had some forced changing to do, though, and it didn’t look inspiring today. But that has always been the case with this team when their top two batters don’t get runs. They now also have the worst net run-rate of the tournament. They move on to Sharjah to play Chennai Super Kings next and it will be vastly different batting conditions there; a nice place to go to after a batting failure.

Man of the Match : Varun Chakravarthy

On being asked about how it feels to be selected in T20 World Cup squad, the architect said, “Definitely made me feel better, and got a sense of acceptance from the people around me. Started very late in my career. Now me getting picked for India gives me a sense of acceptance.”