IPL-2018: Narine s innings was turning point: Mandeep

Kolkata April 9 (IANS) Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) batsman Mandeep Singh has said that Sunil Narine s 19-ball 50 took the game away from them and handed Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) a winning start to the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Eden Gardens here.

KKR rode Narine s pyrotechnics at the top and some composed batting by newly appointed skipper Dinesh Karthik (35 not out) and Nitish Rana s all-round show to beat a strong RCB by four wickets on Sunday.

"The turning point was Narine s innings. If you get a good start like that in the first six overs half the job is done. There was not much left for others to do once Narine batted like that " Mandeep said at the post-match press conference.

Narine who had scored IPL s fastest fifty last season against the same opposition smashed a whirlwind 50 from 19 balls to make light of the 177-run target set by Virat Kohli s charges after being asked to bat first.

Narine completed his half century in 17 balls to become the fourth joint fastest IPL fifty scorer.

Part-time off-spinner Rana (2/11) scalped the big wickets of AB de Villiers and skipper Kohli in successive deliveries to reduce the visitors to 127/4 in 14.3 overs before Mandeep s 18-ball 37 cameo helped them to a challenging 176/7.

"We lost two big players in crucial junctures and off successive deliveries. We were maybe 10-15 runs short " Mandeep said.

"I think it was a decent and fighting total. But had we scored 15-20 more it would have been tougher for the opposition " the former Kings XI Punjab player added.

Asked if RCB s bowlers missed a trick Mandeep said: "We have five bowling options may be the management will think of (Pawan) Negi as another option next time. But as I said he sealed the game in the first six overs. Otherwise we did a good job at bowling."

--IANS
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