IPL 7: RCB choke as KKR steal win from jaws of defeat in last-ball thriller

SharjahRiding on one of the greatest catches of this IPL season and superb bowling at the death Kolkata Knight Riders staged a dramatic fightback to pull off a tworun win over Royal Challengers Bangalore in a thrilling lastball finish at the Indian Premier League here today Chasing 151 RCB fell short after an airborne Chris Lynn who had earlier smashed a 31ball 45 stretched his body backwards at the deep midwicket fence to pull off a blinder and send back dangerman A B de Villiers Needing nine off the last over RCB could manage only seven thanks largely to R Vinay Kumars superb bowling besides Lynns catchKolkata Knight Riders celebrates the win for KKR during their IPL 7 match against Royal Challengers Bangalore in Sharjah on Thursday PTI PhotoBCCIChasing on a good batting surface Bangalore were off to a blazing start with Yogesh Takawale 40 and Parthiv Patel 21 dealing in boundaries Takawale was the more aggressive of the two as he launched into a flurry of boundaries picking KKR pace spearhead Morne Morkel for special treatmentOf his eight boundaries six came when the 29yearold Takawale was up against Morkel helping his side reach 50 in just 37 ballsIn between hoping for a breakthrough KKR skipper Gautam Gambhir handed over the ball to Sunil Narine but took him off after a very economical first over preferring to keep his most important bowler for the latter overs However after settling in nicely Takawale was trapped in front of the wicket by Jacques Kallis He needed just 28 balls to score his runs Captain Virat Kohli 31 walked in but even before he could get his eye in Patel was making his way back to the dressing room as his leading edge popped up for Lynn at cover This brought Yuvraj Singh 31 into the middle and the two experienced players went about the task in a calculated manner At the halfway stage of their innings RCB needed 64 runs with eight wickets in hand Yuvraj brought the equation down by a few runs after he clobbered Umesh Yadav for a six into the midwicket stands A single was taken before Kohli whacked the bowler over the midwicket region Kohli then hit Kallis for two exquisite backtoback cover drives with sheer timing and placements Yuvraj helped himself to a boundary to deep squareleg before Kohli smashed Narines full toss midwicketBut Lynns great catch made sure that RCB couldnt score a hattrick of winsEarlier Kolkata recovered to score 150 for seven after Varun Aarons threewicket burstRCBs Aaron finished with impressive figures of 316 while Chris Lynn 45 and Jacques Kallis 43 were the major contributors with the bat for KKRSent into bat Kolkata were off to another disastrous start losing skipper Gautam Gambhir for duck for the third straight time in the ongoing seventh edition of the cashrich eventChris Lynn of the Kolkata Knight Riders plays a shot during their IPL 7 match against match Royal Challengers Bangalore in Sharjah on Thursday PTI PhotoBCCIAn 80run secondwicket partnership between Kallis and Lynn ensued before three quick wickets pegged the former champions backRobin Uthappa 22 boosted KKRs run rate with a couple of sixes but could not last till the endIt was then left to Suryakumar Yadav 24 not out to take KKR to a decent totalThe only difference with Gambhirs dismissal this time around was that he was out for a golden duck trapped in front of the wicket by a fast and full Mitchell Starc delivery off the third ball of the inningsAlbie Morkel struck in the next over as Manish Pandeys leading edge was easily taken by Kohli at point leaving KKR struggling at 10 for two in the second over Whenthe 24yearold Lynn walked into bat KKR were in a spot of bother but that did not show in the manner the Aussie straightaway went about his taskRCBs move to introduce Muttiah Muralitharan into the attack in the seventh over backfired as the Sri Lankan veteran was smashed for two sixes by Lynn in his first overKallis swept Muralitharan over deep square leg after Lynn whacked Yuzvendra Chahal for a maximum over deep midwicket where Starc completed the catch only to touch the ropesThe association was brought to an end after Aarons reintroductionWith the spinners going for runs bringing back the pacer proved to be a successful move Lynns flatbatted hit failed to clear AB de Villiers at longoffLynn struck three sixes and as many fours in his 31ball knock at the Sharjah Cricket StadiumNext manin Yusuf Pathan lacked discretion evidenced by his irresponsible shot off only the second ball he had faced The result was a simple catch for Kohli at midoff the successful bowler being AaronHaving used quite a few deliveries Kallis fell while going for a biggie against Chahal