Kolkata Knight Riders 186 for 3 (Venkatesh 50, Narine 47) beat Royal Challengers Bengaluru 182 for 6 (Kohli 83*, Russell 2-29, Rana 2-39) by seven wickets

It took 10 matches for IPL 2024 to produce a victory by the away team. Though it was perhaps predictable that it came at the M Chinnaswamy stadium, where the small ground really does favour the chasing team. That, on Friday, was Kolkata Knight Riders, who overcame a Virat Kohli masterclass to chase down 183 and claim the two points.

Narine stars in 500th game

KKR's opening partnership had been a problem area in recent years. But they won this game with it. They had to score a lot of their target inside the first six overs, not just because of the field restrictions, but because that's when the ball is hard and new and that's when it comes onto the bat. RCB's innings already showed that as it got softer and older, going into the wicket and taking pace off became mighty effective. Andre Russell (2-29) and Harshit Rana (2-39) used it to good effect.

This, though, is the KKR gameplan regardless of the venue they're playing at because they keep using Sunil Narine at the top, giving him a licence to play those 30 off 10 cameos. He overachieved, which was fitting on his 500th T20, making 47 off 22. Phil Salt did plenty of damage too. He very nearly didn't play this IPL. At the end of the powerplay, KKR had 85 for 0. They'd taken down almost 50% of their target in just 30% of the overs with 100% of their wickets still in hand.

Upon that platform, Venkatesh Iyer raised a half-century and Shreyas Iyer ensured he was there till the end, which came as early as the 17th over. RCB's lopsided line-up - world-class batters and inexperienced bowlers - was laid bare. The most economical of their three main bowlers was Yash Dayal (11.5)

Kohli going big

"I've still got it," he said, before realising he's being broadcast all over the world and he needed to be a bit less. "I guess."

Kohli has often said he has nothing to prove, but the fact that he said that at the end of RCB's last match suggests there has been talk about the way he bats in T20 cricket.

Usually cricketers don't get riled up by talk that comes from outside. That's white noise and they spend their whole lives ignoring it, hard though it certainly is.

Kohli saying he's still got it feels like there's some input from within the Indian team about how they want him to go about his business. His performance in this IPL - which has become a bit of a showcase for players hoping to make it to the T20 World Cup in June - has reflected a change in his game.

A previously risk-averse batter, a limited-overs run-machine who sets his stall out to play the whole innings, is willing to put less of a price on his wicket. And he's been doing that by hitting the ball in the air a lot more than he used to. This is from data collected from the 2014 season onwards. It really does tell a tale.

It is well known that Kohli hits pace as well as anybody in world cricket. He smashed Mitchell Starc for 33 in 17 balls with three fours and two sixes. The revelation was he was showing the same kind of intent against the slow bowlers. Having hit Narine for just one six in 106 balls across all IPLs, Kohli launched the mystery spinner out of the Chinnaswamy off just the fifth ball on Friday. In the course of this belligerence, he went past Chris Gayle (239) as RCB's most prolific six-hitter (241).

The Chinnaswamy disadvantage

Faf du Plessis, in the post-match presentation, mentioned that RCB did try to take the learning from the first innings - how the slower balls were sticking in the surface - and put it to use but they were impeded by the dew that had set in. Venkatesh, who was the top-scorer for KKR, mentioned that it got easier for batting at least from one end. How easy?

Well, according to ESPNcricinfo's ball-by-ball data, both RCB and KKR bowled a similar number of slower balls - 21 and 22 - but that still cost RCB 13.42 an over whereas KKR slipped by with an economy rate of 5.45. Russell was particularly hard to hit, varying his pace from 150kph all the way down to the 110s kph. When he does the Narine job and Narine does the Russell job, where is an opposition supposed to go? KKR are looking dangerous this season.