Sunil Narine (4/21) and Lockie Ferguson (2/30) dominated in restricting Royal Challengers Bangalore to a below-par 138/7 in the IPL 2021 Eliminator match at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Monday. Narine was exceptional in breaking the back of Bangalore's batting in the middle overs while Ferguson was able support.


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Interestingly, Narine dismissed RCB skipper Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers, and in-form Glenn Maxwell during his spell and became only the second bowler after Harpreet Brar of Punjab Kings to remove the three RCB batsmen in a single innings.


Apart from Kohli, Maxwell, and ABD, Narine also dismissed KS Bharat, who stole the show during RCB’s previous match against Delhi Capitals by hitting a last-ball six.



Opting to bat first, Bangalore had a quick start with 53/1 in the power-play. Virat Kohli got going with a sweep off Shakib Al Hasan before slamming Shivam Mavi for back-to-back fours in the next over. Devdutt Padikkal took two boundaries off Lockie Ferguson in the fourth over. But the New Zealander had the last laugh in his second over as Padikkal chopped one into his stumps.

Post power-play, Kolkata squeezed the run flow as 17 runs came off the next four overs, including KS Bharat's wicket, holing out to long-off off Sunil Narine.

That began a batting slide for Bangalore as three overs later, Narine had his second wicket of the match with Kohli set himself for a slog-sweep, only to be bowled through the gate.

Narine struck with his third wicket in the 15th over, getting the ball to just turn in and slip between bat and pad to disturb the stumps of de Villiers. In his final over, Narine claimed his fourth wicket as Maxwell sliced a slog-sweep to short third man. Ahmed and Daniel Christian fell in the last two overs but Bangalore just managed to cross the 130-run mark.