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Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) captain Ajinkya Rahane shed light on the moment in the first innings that completely changed the "momentum" against Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the first match of the Indian Premier League.
On their home turf and in front of their crowd, the defending champions fell short and surrendered to an emphatic 7-wicket defeat at the iconic Eden Gardens. After being put to bat and struggling against the early blitz of Josh Hazlewood, Rahane and Sunil Narine upped the ante by resorting to a fearless approach. They turned the tides by attacking relentlessly and lifted the Knights to 107/1 in 9.5 overs. Against the run of play, RCB found the breakthrough with Rasikh Salam punching Narine's (44) return ticket to the dressing room. The floodgates blew wide open, and Krunal Pandya capitalised on the opportunity. He struck twice in quick succession to leave KKR tattering at 145/5. This was the moment for Rahane when he felt the momentum turn its face away from the defending champions, which left them incapable of breaching the 200-run mark. "I thought we were going well till the 13th over, but 2-3 wickets changed the momentum. Batters that followed tried their best, but it didn't work out. When Venky and I were batting, we discussed that 200-210 was achievable, but those wickets changed the momentum," Rahane said in the post-match presentation. "A little bit of dew was there, but they had a very good powerplay with the bat. It (total) was under par. We were looking for 200-plus (score). We don't want to think too much about this game, but at the same time, just try and get better in certain areas," he added. After KKR limped to 174/8, the explosive opening duo of Philip Salt and Virat Kohli set the Eden Gardens ablaze with a searing display with the bat. The spectators were left mesmerised as RCB chants took over the cricketing hub of Kolkata. They raised a 95-run opening stand to take the game out of KKR's grasp and cruise to a 7-wicket win. (ANI)
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