RCB seamer David Willey bowled two unplayable deliveries to dismiss KKR’s Venkatesh Iyer and Mandeep Singh in their encounter on Thursday at the iconic Eden Gardens.
The 33-year-old Willey replaced another left-arm England pacer, Reece Topley, in RCB’s XI after Topley had dislocated his shoulder in the first match against Mumbai Indians. Australian speedster Josh Hazlewood is still in Australia, recovering from a heel injury.
In the absence of Hazlewood and Topley, it was David who made the powerplay breakthroughs today with some sensational new-ball bowling display.
In his first over, the second of the match after Mohammed Siraj started with the new ball, Willey conceded only 3 runs to the ultra-aggressive Rahmanullah Gurbaz and attacking left-hander Venkatesh Iyer.
In his second over then, David Willey made twin breakthroughs – and what sensational piece of bowling it was – to rattle the stumps of Venkatesh Iyer and Mandeep Singh. Nitish Rana could only survive the remainder of the over as the Englishman walked off to a raucous ovation from the Eden crowd, largely filled by people in red surprisingly, with a double-wicket maiden over.
If Iyer got a good ball – pitching short of length outside off, seaming in sharply, and staying a bit low to crash onto the top of the stumps – Mandeep got a peach from Bangalore’s Speedster: slanting across on length on middle stumps, swinging a bit, and then seaming away from the right-hander to beat the outside edge of Mandeep’s forward defense and hitting the off-stump.
Watch: David Willey knocks over Venkatesh and Mandeep
Two in Two by David Willey!
A double wicket maiden by @david_willey 🔥🔥
Venkatesh Iyer and Mandeep Singh depart.
Live – https://t.co/V0OS7tFZTB #TATAIPL #KKRvRCB #IPL2023 pic.twitter.com/FjuJoHWzLH
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 6, 2023
Bowling three overs on a troy, David Willey finished his first spell with astonishing figures of 3-1-9-2
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Royal Challengers Bangalore Playing XI and Substitute List for Impact Player
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Mandeep Singh, Rahmanullah Gurbaz(w), Venkatesh Iyer, Nitish Rana(c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Shardul Thakur, Sunil Narine, Tim Southee, Umesh Yadav, Varun Chakaravarthy
Royal Challengers Bangalore (Playing XI): Virat Kohli, Faf du Plessis(c), Glenn Maxwell, Michael Bracewell, Dinesh Karthik(w), Shahbaz Ahmed, David Willey, Karn Sharma, Harshal Patel, Akash Deep, Mohammed Siraj
Kolkata Knight Riders Substitutes: Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, N Jagadeesan, David Wiese
Royal Challengers Bangalore Substitutes: Finn Allen, Sonu Yadav, Mahipal Lomror, Suyash Prabhudessai, Anuj Rawat
