By K Aditya
Sharjah, Oct 11 (UNI) A fabulous four-wicket spell by Sunil Narine helped Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) restrict Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) to 138/7 in IPL 2021 Eliminator, here on Monday.
Narine delivered his best performance of the season as he took four important wickets--Virat Kohli (39), AB de Villiers (9), Glenn Maxwell (15) and Srikar Bharat (9)-- by considering just 21 runs in his four overs quota.


Opting to bat to first, RCB openers Kohli and Devdutt Padikkal made most of the fielding restrictions by smashing 49 runs in the first five overs.
KKR plans to use spinners from the start yielded no result as the Bangalore duo matched each other shot for shot with six boundaries in the powerplay. The opening partnership came to a halt at the beginning of the sixth over with Lockie Ferguson removed Devdutt Padikkal for 21 off 18.
Boundaries dried up post the powerplay as Kohli and newly-in Bharat could only add 13 runs for the second wicket in the next three overs.
Bharat (9 off 16) then fell prey to spinner Narine, who had the batsman taken at long-off after setting him up with a wide delivery.
RCB saw some runs with Maxwell joining in with the captain. The next two overs fetched 17 runs but came at a cost of Kohli's wicket, who was clean bowled by Narine.
Next-in De Villiers (9 off 7) couldn't stay for long as well despite a promising start. The former South Africa skipper was holed out by Narine as well with RCB scoreboard changing to 102/4 in 14.2 overs.
The West Indies spinner was not done for the night as he outfoxed Maxwell (15 off 18) for his fourth wicket of the night.
With all big guns gone, RCB crawled to 138 with last four overs yielding 27 runs for the loss of further two wickets.
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