What began like a drizzle, finished with a thunderstorm. And in the end of it all, the Royal Challengers Bangalore defeated the Kolkata Knight Riders by 10 runs.

The Royal Challengers picked up their second win in nine matches, the Knight Riders fell to their fourth loss on the trot, but all that is merely academic for the epic that was played at the Eden.

Both the teams started their innings on a quite note but changed character later. Both racked up 143 runs in their last 10 overs. It was almost unfair that one team had to win the match.

Chasing a 214-run target, the Knight Riders stopped at 203 for five. That after Nitish Rana and Andre Russell threatened to be supermen and pull off an impossible victory.

Rana remained unbeaten on 85 off 46 balls, made with the help of nine boundaries and five sixes. Russell powered to 65 off 25 balls. And despite grimacing in pain because of his hurt shoulder, he mustered nine over-boundaries and two fours.

Before the Rana and Russell show, there was of course the Virat Kohli masterpiece and Moeen Ali blitzkrieg.

The Royal Challengers’s innings changed colours from average to extraordinary to end up on 213 for four in 20 overs. Kohli played a magnificent innings of 100 off 58 balls, and Moeen’s whirlwind 66 came off just 28 balls.

The Knight Riders were snail-ish in their chase. They lost opener Chris Lynn (1) as early as the first over and thereafter, it was more like a crawl rather than the galloping pace that is required to overhaul a 200-plus target.

After 10 overs, the Knight Riders’s score was 60 for two.

There was hope though, for they were just 10 short of what the Royal Challengers had managed at that stage. The home team needed a batsman or two to play like Kohli and Moeen. Rana and Russell stood up to the challenge.

Rana was the No.5 batsman, while Russell came in after the fall of Robin Uthappa (9) in the 12th over.

The duo pressed on the accelerator and began dealing in sixes and fours.

At the end of 15 overs, the Knight Riders were 121 for four. That meant they needed 93 to win off the last 30 balls. Some more lusty shots followed and after 18 overs, the hosts needed 43 off 12 balls.

Marcus Stoinis conceded one run off the first three balls of the 19th over, but the next three were hit for sixes by Russell.

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The Knight Riders finally needed 24 off the last six balls. But Moeen Ali kept a steady head and gave away just 13.

It turned out to be too much for even Russell, who was run out off the penultimate ball of the match.

Earlier, the almost choc-a-bloc Eden Gardens desired to see something special from Indian cricket’s current superhero. The crowd egged on the India and Royal Challengers captain for a special knock. And special it was.

Kept quiet initially by the some disciplined bowling from the Knight Riders, Kohli made his fifty off 40 balls, with four boundaries and a single six.

Kohli changed that piece of statistics majestically, with his next 50 runs coming off just 17 balls. This time he unleashed three maximums and five fours.

Moeen had a big impact on the Royal Challengers’s innings. At a time when the visiting team were struggling somewhat to push the scoreboard, Moeen walked in and thrashed the Knight Riders’s bowlers, whose disciplined effort in the first 10 overs was simply uprooted in the next 10.

The Royal Challengers plundered 143 runs in the second half of their innings.

The English all-rounder smashed 66 off just 28 balls, garlanding his innings with six over-boundaries and five fours.

Moeen’s innings did not only improve the Royal Challengers’ scoring rate, it somehow managed to wake up Kohli too.

To be precise, it was the 16th over of the innings, bowled by Kuldeep Yadav, that brought the visitors tremendously back into the match. The over cost the Knight Riders 27 runs as a ruthless Moeen hit three sixes and two fours. Moeen was out in the last ball of the over, but by then he had done his job.

Kohli, who was looking grumpy till the 15th over, was a transformed batsman post the 16th over. He looked confident, was striking the ball better and that meant trouble for the home team.

It was Kohli’s day. But it could easily have been Rana or Russell’s day too.