Right then, that’s it from this one-sided contest but the action continues in the Indian T20 League. Punjab will take on Lucknow at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Saturday, 30th of March. That game will begin at 7.30 pm IST (2.00 pm GMT). But as you all know; we shall be there for the build-up. So do join us then. Until then, goodbye and cheers!

Sunil Narine is the PLAYER OF THE MATCH for his stellar batting performance. He also had a wicket to his name. He says that it is a nice milestone and hopes that he can play 500 more games. Feels happy to have been able to play like this in a milestone game. States that self-belief and support from the support staff have been the key. Reckons that the Powerplay overs are hardest and it is about keeping things quiet when you return in the middle overs. States that the support staff has given them the freedom to do what they want.

Shreyas Iyer, the skipper of Kolkata shares that in between the long break, they felt that the team had already played 7-8 games. Adds that they got two good practice sessions and it helped them nicely. Credits Andre Russell who understood the wicket well and bowled the right lengths. Shares that the rest of the bowlers learned from it and executed it nicely. Mentions that Sunil Narine has the experience to come back from expensive overs and stick to his task. Informs that the slower balls were bouncing extra and passing the right message to the incoming batters did the job easy for them. Ends by saying that they will travel in a couple of days for their next game and they will assess the wicket there, once they reach Vizag. States that they have two wins right now and the team wants to take it game by game. 

Time for the presentation ceremony...

Venkatesh Iyer is in for a chat. He says that the wicket got better in the second innings. Credits Sunil Narine for giving them a good start and making the job easy. Adds that the left-arm spinner was bowling and it worked well for him. Mentions that Vyshak Vijaykumar bowled well as he understood the wicket properly. Ends by stating that pace off on this wicket worked well and the one who assessed it got the rewards.

The captain of Bengaluru, Faf du Plessis says that the wicket was two-paced during the first innings. Feels that 182 was a decent score but it was a bit under par, considering it was a night game. Credits the way the Kolkata openers batted and states that they broke the game in the first six overs. Shares that they thought about bringing in Karn Sharma but then went with Vijaykumar due to his cutters and he was the best bowler for them on the night.

Earlier in the night, Bengaluru made a sub-par score of 182 on the back of an excellent unbeaten 83 off 59 from Virat Kohli while Cameron Green, Glenn Maxwell, and Dinesh Karthik also played handy knocks through the innings. The home side looked like finishing on a below-par score on a belter of a pitch but some late hitting from Kohli and Karthik took them over the 180-run mark. Andre Russell and Harshit Rana were the pick of the Kolkata bowlers with two wickets each. The visiting team Kolkata, made light work of the chase and became the first away team in the league to get a win in this year’s competition. Kolkata have got two great wins from their opening two games and have four points on the board. 

Bengaluru bowling was well below par with their usual standard. The home team bowled way too many loose balls and gave away freebies to the opposition batters. Vijaykumar Vyshak and Mayank Dagar were the pick of the bowlers but the rest of the attack took a real beating at the hands of Kolkata batters. Mohammed Siraj, Yash Dayal, and Alzarri Joseph all went for over 11 runs to the over and the home side failed to defend their score. With this loss, the streak of the home side winning all their matches in the competition has come to an end. Bengaluru will go back to the drawing board and hope to prepare well before their next game. 

A clinical chase by Kolkata sees them beat Bengaluru by a thumping margin of 7 wickets with more than three overs to spare. They have put out a real statement and showed how strong they are as a side. Chasing 183 for the win, the Kolkata openers went berserk and added 86 inside 7 overs to get their side a quick start. Both Salt and Narine were dismissed in quick succession but the Iyer's, Shreyas, and Venkatesh kept the momentum going strong. Venkatesh Iyer slammed a 30-ball 50 while Shreyas Iyer with 39 took his side home and stayed unbeaten in the end.

Strategic Break! Kolkata are just a few hits away from the win as they have made a mockery of this total. The top three batters went hard from the start and played with aggressive intent. Bengaluru have been below par so far with the ball. Only Vijaykumar Vyshak and Mayank Dagar have had decent figures in the match. The rest of the attack has been taken to the cleaners. Shreyas Iyer will look to knock off the remaining runs with the newly arrived Rinku Singh.