Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) beat Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by nine wickets in Match 31 of 14th edition of Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) at Sheikh Zayed Stadium on Monday.
Chasing a paltry 93 for a win, Shubman Gill (48) and debutant Venkatesh Iyer (41 not out) stitched 82 runs for the opening wicket as KKR reached 94 for 1 in just 10 overs.
Earlier, electing to bat, RCB were bundled out for 92 with Andre Russell and Varun Chakravarthy taking three wickets apiece for 9 and 13 runs respectively.
Devdutt Padikkal was the highest scorer with 22 runs in a forgettable outing in skipper Virat Kohli's 200th game for RCB.
Bowling the day's second over, right-arm medium pacer Prasidh Krishna dealt RCB a big blow when he had Virat Kohli trapped in front of wicket with his fourth delivery that jagged in and hit him above the knee-roll.
Earlier, KS Bharat and Wanindu Hasaranga will make their debut for RCB, while Venkatesh Iyer is set to play his maiden IPL game for KKR.
Kolkata Knight Riders' scorecard
| Batsman | Dismissal | Runs | Balls | Fours | Sixes |
| Shubman Gill | c Siraj b Chahal | 48 | 34 | 6 | 1 |
| Venkatesh Iyer | not out | 41 | 27 | 7 | 1 |
| Andre Russell | not out | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total: 94-1 in 10 Overs |
| Bowler | Over | Maiden | Runs | Wickets |
| Mohammed Siraj | 2 | 0 | 12 | 0 |
| Kyle Jamieson | 2 | 0 | 26 | 0 |
| Wanindu Hasaranga | 2 | 0 | 20 | 0 |
| Yuzvendra Chahal | 2 | 0 | 23 | 1 |
| Harshal Patel | 2 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
Kohli was playing in a landmark 200th match for RCB, a team that he has been a part of since the beginning of the lucrative league in 2008.
"More special than the 200th game is this uniform: we promised that we would be playing for the Covid warriors, with these jerseys being auctioned for people," Kohli said at the toss. KKR needs to bring its IPL 2021 campaign back on track after losing five out of seven matches during the India leg of IPL 2021. Kolkata must win at least five of its remaining seven matches to keep its playoffs hope alive.
Meanwhile, RCB is sitting comfortably on the top-half of the IPL 2021 points table with 10 points in seven matches. Virat Kohli, who will step down as RCB captain after this season, will play his 200th match for Royal Challengers Bangalore and he's the only playing player in IPL history to represent RCB in all 14 seasons.
Royal Challengers Bangalore scorecard | Batsman | Dismissal | Runs | Balls | Fours | Sixes |
| Virat Kohli | lbw b Prasidh | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| Devdutt Paddikal | c Karthik b Ferguson | 22 | 20 | 3 | 0 |
| KS Bharat | c Shubman b Russell | 16 | 19 | 1 | 0 |
| Glenn Maxwell | b Varun Chakravarthy | 10 | 17 | 0 | 0 |
| AB de Villiers | b Russell | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Sachin Baby | c Rana b Chakravarthy | 7 | 17 | 0 | 0 |
| Wanindu Hasaranga | lbw b Chakravarthy | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Kyle Jamieson | run out (Chakravarthy) | 4 | 12 | 0 | 0 |
| Harshal Patel | b Ferguson | 12 | 10 | 2 | 0 |
| Mohammed Siraj | c Chakravarthy b Russell | 8 | 10 | 1 | 0 |
| Yuzvendra Chahal | not out | 2 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| Total: 92-10 in 19 Overs |
| Bowler | Over | Maiden | Runs | Wickets |
| Varun Chakravarthy | 4 | 0 | 13 | 3 |
| Prasidh Krishna | 4 | 0 | 24 | 1 |
| Lockie Ferguson | 4 | 0 | 24 | 2 |
| Sunil Narine | 4 | 0 | 20 | 0 |
| Andre Russell | 23 | 0 | 9 | 3 |
RCB vs KKR playing 11 KKR playing 11: Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Rahul Tripathi, Eoin Morgan(c), Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik(w), Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Lockie Ferguson, Varun Chakravarthy, Prasidh Krishna
RCB playing 11: Virat Kohli(c), Devdutt Padikkal, Srikar Bharat, Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers(w), Wanindu Hasaranga, Sachin Baby, Kyle Jamieson, Mohammed Siraj, Harshal Patel, Yuzvendra Chahal
 "IPL 2021, Match 31, RCB vs KKR Highlights: Kolkata wins by 9 wickets")
