Wanindu Hasaranga de Silva weaved his magic and cast a spell around the Kolkata Knight Riders batsmen as the Royal Challengers Bangalore registered their first victory of the Indian Premier League’s 2022 edition.
The Sri Lankan all-rounder scalped 4/20 in a mesmerising bowling performance that stood out as the highlight of RCB’s win in the low-scoring match.
Hasaranga’s four-wicket haul helped Bangalore bowl out Kolkata for 128 that the former overwhelmed with four balls to spare at the DY Patil Stadium.
Bangalore were given a scare when Tim Southee and Umesh Yadav claimed five wickets between them to wreck their batting.
However, Sherfane Rutherford’s 28 and an unbeaten 14 off seven balls by Dinesh Karthik turned the fortunes in favour of Bangalore.
“In an ideal world, we would’ve liked to have won more convincingly but a win is a win,” said Du Plessis, who succeeded Virat Kohli as captain with Bangalore in hunt for their maiden IPL title.
“DK’s (Karthik) experience helped in the end, cool-calm, runs weren’t never really too far away. He’s probably as cool as MS Dhoni can get in the last five overs.”
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.
“I thought this game was exciting. Before coming in to the bowl, I told the boys this game could define our character,” said Shreyas.
“The way we fought reflects our mentality. Proud to have taken it till the last over.”