IPL 2022: Hasaranga shines as Bangalore edge Kolkata in thriller

Sri Lanka’s Wanindu Hasaranga returned figures of 4-20 to set up a three-wicket victory for Royal Challengers Bangalore in a low-scoring IPL thriller against Kolkata Knight Riders on Wednesday.

Hasaranga’s inspired spell of leg-spin helped bowl out Kolkata for 128, a total Bangalore overhauled with four balls to spare after some late drama at Mumbai’s DY Patil Stadium.

Fast bowlers Tim Southee and Umesh Yadav claimed five wickets between them to rattle the Bangalore top and middle-order before Sherfane Rutherford’s 28 and an unbeaten 14 off seven by Dinesh Karthik got the team home.

Bangalore, led by new skipper Faf du Plessis, bounced back from their opening loss to register their first win of the 15th edition of the Indian Premier League Twenty20 tournament.

Rutherford, a left-handed West Indies batter, put on key partnerships including a 39-run stand with Shahbaz Ahmed, who made 27.

Southee took down Rutherford and then Hasaranga in one over to keep the game in the balance but Karthik finished it off with a six and a four in the final over off Andre Russell.

Earlier Bangalore’s Akash Deep and fellow pace bowler Mohammed Siraj rattled the Kolkata top-order.

Hasaranga soon combined to send back skipper Shreyas Iyer for 13 and then two successive scalps in one over as Kolkata slipped to 66-7.

Russell attempted to hit back with his 18-ball 25 but fell caught behind to medium-pace bowler Harshal Patel and Kolkata innings folded in 18.5 overs.

Hasaranga was ably supported by the pace trio of Akash Deep (3-45), Harshal Patel (2-11) and Mohammed Siraj (1-25).

In reply, Sherfane Rutherford (28), David Willey (18) and Shahbaz Ahmed (27) played crucial innings as RCB survived some anxious moments before overhauling the target, scoring 132 for 7 in 19.2 overs after Tim Southee (3-20) and Umesh Yadav (2-16) blew away their top-order.

Yadav and Southee troubled the top-order batters with their pace and bounce, leaving RCB at 17 for 3 at one stage.

While Anuj Rawat (0) got a thick outside edge off Umesh, Faf Du Plessis (5) got a leading edge to the point fielder and Virat Kohli (12) paid the price for playing away from the body.

Willey and Rutherford then tried to rebuild the chase with a 45-run stand but Sunil Narine broke the partnership in the 11th over as he had the former caught at midwicket.

Coming to the crease, Shahbaz pulled Andre Russell for two maximums as RCB amassed 15 runs to ease the pressure.

Needing 36 off 30 balls, Shahbaz hit another six off Chakravarthy before being deceived by the bowler as RCB slumped to 101 for 5.

With pressure mounting, Rutherford went for a slog only to be caught behind off Southee.

Needing 17 off last two overs, Harshal Patel smashed two fours, while Dinesh Karthik (14 not out) blasted a six and a four in the first two balls of the last over to take the team home.

The world’s most valuable cricket tournament has been expanded to 10 teams and 74 matches this season but league games remain restricted to two venues including Pune with limited crowd due to coronavirus-related restrictions.

Lucknow Super Giants, one of the two new teams added to the league, take on holders Chennai Super Kings on Thursday at Mumbai’s Brabourne Stadium.