Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) registered a comprehensive 21-run victory over Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in Match 36 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 on Wednesday (April 26).

The two-time IPL winners were on a losing streak of four successive games. They badly needed a win to get their campaign back on track and the players rose to the occasion to get the better of RCB at the Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Asked to bat first, KKR posted 200/5 on the board with key contributions from opener Jason Roy (56 off 29) and Nitish Rana (48 off 21).

Defending the total, the visitors restricted the hosts to 179/8. Varun Chakaravarthy (3-27), Andre Russell (2-29) and Suyash Sharma (2-30) did the damage with the ball, sharing seven wickets among them.

After the game, KKR skipper Nitish Rana heaped praise on his team, saying that they showed a lot of character to produce a brilliant performance against RCB.

"Last 3-4 matches I've been saying the same thing at the toss - if we play well collectively, result will be in our favour. You need a lot of character in the dressing room to give a performance like this in our situation. The belief has always been there that we'll bounce back. We wanted to put a score on the board. Felt like it would turn in the second innings because there wasn't much dew. It didn't turn a lot but we bowled well," said Rana at the post-match presentation ceremony.

The captain had special praise reserved for young spinner Suyash Sharma, who has impressed one and all with his exploits in the ongoing IPL.

"Whenever I've spoken to him (Suyash Sharma), he has always put his hand up. He always says I'll do the job. We tell him to not look at who is batting against you, just focus on your own bowling," he added.

It was KKR’s third victory in eight games and they are currently occupying the seventh spot on the IPL 2023 points table featuring 10 teams.

Kolkata Knight Riders will next face Gujarat Titans at the Eden Gardens on Saturday (April 29).