The last time Royal Challengers Bangalore had played against Kolkata Knight Riders at home, Sunil Narine had destroyed them with a 17-ball 50. Royal Challengers Bangalore would have feared the worst in the ongoing game too after Narine started in the same manner. After not collecting any run from his first four balls, the Knight Riders opener hit Navdeep Saini for ten runs in three balls.
As a result, Knight Riders had already raced away to 28 in just 10 balls while chasing 206. However, before Narine could inflict more damage on this the hosts, Pawan Negi took a stunning catch to send back the southpaw. Navdeep Saini banged one short towards Narine’s body and the latter could only pull it without much timing. The resulting shot looped towards fine leg but was still looking primed to clear the ropes.
However. Pawan Negi charged in towards his right and timed his jump to perfection to send Narine back. And as soon as Negi completed the catch, Virat Kohli erupted in celebration. The ever-energetic Royal Challengers skipper celebrated animatedly as he made his emotions clear.
Here is a clip of that catch to dismiss Sunil Narine:
https://twitter.com/PRINCE3758458/status/1114207405414293504
Earlier in the game, fifties from Virat Kohli and A de Villiers’ whirlwind fifties guided Royal Challengers Bangalore to a daunting 205 for 3 – their highest score this season so far. Asked to bat first, the Royal Challengers were off to a good start with openers Parthiv Patel and Kohli adding 64 runs for the first wicket inside 8 overs. Kohli scored 84 while de Villiers scored 63.
FIFTY!@imVkohli looks in ominous touch today as brings up his half-century off 31 deliveries. #VIVOIPL #RCBvKKR pic.twitter.com/Evva9mWNz0
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 5, 2019
The two added 108 runs for the second wicket to lay the foundation for the big total.