Twitter Reactions: Mohammed Siraj's sensational opening spell wins it for RCB against KKR in a low-scoring encounter

KKR posted the lowest total of 84/8 after batting out their quota of 20 overs.

By Aditya Gajanan Kukalyekar verified

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5 Min Read

Mohammed Siraj
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Mohammed Siraj. (Photo Source: IPL/BCCI)

Strange things have happened over the last few days in the Indian Premier League (IPL). Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) suffered one such bad day at the office after locking horns against the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). The Virat Kohli-led side put on its best bowling effort with Mohammed Siraj leading the pack with a sensational new ball spell upfront and it led RCB to a comfortable win in the end.

After opting to bat first, nothing went KKR’s way. Siraj spit venom with each of his deliveries in his opening spell. He got the better of Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana and Tom Banton in his first two overs to leave the opposition stunned. Navdeep Saini also struck at the other end to send back Shubman Gill as KKR were reduced to 14/4 in the fourth over itself.

Siraj also became the first ever bowler to deliver two maiden overs in an IPL match in the process. KKR also registered the fifth lowest powerplay score in the IPL ever. There were hopes from Dinesh Karthik and Eoin Morgan then to take the team to a respectable total. However, that wasn’t to be. The duo added 18 runs in more than five overs only for the former to be nipped in front of the stumps by Yuzvendra Chahal.

The leggie also stifled Pat Cummins to leave KKR reeling at 40/6 in the 13th over of the innings. Runs were hard to come by but their skipper Eoin Morgan fought it out somehow to muster 30 runs off 34 balls with three fours and a six. However, when he attempted to take the attack to the opposition, the southpaw got out to Washington Sundar.

KKR could reach 84 in their 20 overs only due to the partnership between Lockie Ferguson and Kuldeep Yadav. They added 27 runs together even as the franchise named an embarrassing record of scoring the lowest total after batting for the whole 20 overs. For RCB, Siraj ended with magical figures of 3/8 in his four overs while Chahal and Sundar also went for only 28 runs in eight overs sharing three wickets between them.

Walk in the park for RCB

The 85-run target was never going to challenge the star-studded batting line-up of RCB. Their openers, Aaron Finch and Devdutt Padikkal started off cautiously and then played some brilliant strokes to take advantage of the powerplay Finch walked down the wicket for the pacers to tackle swing and was quite successful in it. But on the only occasion when he stayed in his crease, the Australian edged one behind to the keeper off Lockie Ferguson.

Padikkal, at the other end, cleared the in-field a couple of times and was looking good to finish the chase. But he was involved in a mix-up with Gurkeerat Singh and was out on 25. However, RCB skipper Virat Kohli walked out then and made sure there were no more hiccups in the chase to get over the line in the 14th over of the innings. With this win, they also climbed up to the second position while the fight for the fourth place has livened up now in the IPL.

Here’s how Twitter reacted:

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