Kohli 83 in vain as Kolkata thumps Bengaluru in IPL

BENGALURU, India (AP) — Virat Kohli’s meticulous unbeaten 83 went in vain for Royal Challengers Bengaluru as they were hauled down by Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League on Friday.

Kohli followed his 77 on Monday with a 59-ball knock that anchored Bengaluru to 182-6 on a two-paced pitch that became easier to bat on later.

Kolkata opening batters Sunil Narine, playing his 500th Twenty20, and Phil Salt made a rocket start of 85 in the power play. They reached a winning 186-3 with 3.1 overs to spare.

Narine, 47 off 22, smashed five sixes and two fours. Salt made 30 off 20. They plundered the likes of fast bowlers Mohammed Siraj (0-46) and Yash Dayal (1-46).

Narine was yorked by Mayank Dagar and Salt followed him soon when he pulled impact player Vijakumar Vyshak (1-23) to deep square leg.

But Ventakesh Iyer played some exquisite pull shots and used his feet well in a 75-run stand with Shreyas Iyer to seal the game. Ventakesh offered a straightforward catch to Kohli at deep midwicket soon after his 50 off 30 with four sixes and three fours. Shreyas was 39 not out.

Earlier, Kolkata’s multi-million-dollar pacer Mitchell Starc went wicketless at 0-47, but Andre Russell bowled well with 2-29 despite Kohli’s early domination.

Bengaluru captain Faf du Plessis fell to a brilliant off-cutter by Harshit Rana in the second over. Cameroon Green looked to accelerate alongside Kohli but Russell broke their threatening stand by clean-bowling the Australian in the ninth over.

Kohli raised his second successive half-century off 36 balls but it helped Bengaluru only to a par score.

Kolkata has two wins from two matches, and Bengaluru one from three.

AP cricket: https://apnews.com/hub/cricket

Royal Challengers Bengaluru's Virat Kohli bats during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Kolkata Knight Riders in Bengaluru, India, Friday, March 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Spectators react after Royal Challengers Bengaluru's Virat Kohli hit a boundary during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Kolkata Knight Riders in Bengaluru, India, Friday, March 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Royal Challengers Bengaluru's Cameron Green, right, listens to batting partner Virat Kohli after hitting a boundary during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Kolkata Knight Riders in Bengaluru, India, Friday, March 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Royal Challengers Bengaluru's Virat Kohli celebrates scoring fifty runs during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Kolkata Knight Riders in Bengaluru, India, Friday, March 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Royal Challengers Bengaluru's Virat Kohli bats during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Kolkata Knight Riders in Bengaluru, India, Friday, March 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Royal Challengers Bengaluru's Mayank Dagar, second right, celebrates with teammates the dismissal of Kolkata Knight Riders' Sunil Narine, second left, during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Kolkata Knight Riders in Bengaluru, India, Friday, March 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Kolkata Knight Riders' Phil Salt plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Kolkata Knight Riders in Bengaluru, India, Friday, March 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Kolkata Knight Riders' Sunil Narine plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Kolkata Knight Riders in Bengaluru, India, Friday, March 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Kolkata Knight Riders' Venkatesh Iyer plays a shot during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Kolkata Knight Riders in Bengaluru, India, Friday, March 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

Royal Challengers Bengaluru's Virat Kohli reacts during the Indian Premier League cricket match between Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Kolkata Knight Riders in Bengaluru, India, Friday, March 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)

SULPHUR, Okla. (AP) — Small towns in Oklahoma began a long cleanup Monday after tornadoes flattened homes and buildings and killed four people, including an infant, widening a destructive outbreak of severe weather across the middle of the U.S.

Punishing storms that began late Saturday in Oklahoma injured at least 100 people, damaged a rural hospital, washed out roads and knocked out power to more than 40,000 customers at one point, state officials said. Tornadoes on Friday in Iowa and Nebraska also caused wide destruction and were blamed for one death.

The destruction was extensive in Sulphur, a town of about 5,000 people south of Oklahoma City, where a tornado crumpled many downtown buildings, tossed cars and buses and sheared the roofs off houses across a 15-block radius.

“You just can't believe the destruction,” Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt said during a visit to the hard-hit town. “It seems like every business downtown has been destroyed.”

Stitt said about 30 people were injured in Sulphur, including some who were in a bar as the tornado struck. Hospitals across the state reported about 100 injuries, including people apparently cut or struck by debris, according to the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management. An infant was among those killed, Hughes County Emergency Management Director Mike Dockrey told Oklahoma television station KOCO.

White House officials said President Joe Biden spoke to Stitt on Sunday and offered the full support of the federal government.

The deadly weather in Oklahoma added to the dozens of reported tornadoes that have wreaked havoc in the nation's midsection since Friday. Another death was reported Sunday in Iowa, where officials in Pottawattamie County said a man critically injured during a tornado Friday had died.

In Oklahoma, authorities said the tornado in Sulphur began in a city park before barreling through the downtown, flipping cars and ripping the roofs and walls off of brick buildings. Windows and doors were blown out of structures that remained standing.

“How do you rebuild it? This is complete devastation,” said Kelly Trussell, a lifelong Sulphur resident as she surveyed the damage. “It is crazy, you want to help but where do you start?”

Carolyn Goodman traveled to Sulphur from the nearby town of Ada in search of her former sister-in-law, who Goodman said was at a local bar just before the tornado hit the area. Stitt said one of the victims was found inside a bar but authorities had not yet identified those killed.

“The bar was destroyed,” Goodman said. “I know they probably won’t find her alive ... but I hope she is still alive.”

Farther north, a tornado near the town of Holdenville killed two people and damaged or destroyed more than a dozen homes, according to the Hughes County Emergency Medical Service. Another person was killed along Interstate 35 near the southern Oklahoma city of Marietta, state officials said.

Heavy rains that swept into Oklahoma with the tornadoes also caused dangerous flooding and water rescues. Outside Sulphur, rising lake levels shut down the Chickasaw National Recreation Area, where the storms wiped out a pedestrian bridge.

Stitt issued an executive order Sunday declaring a state of emergency in 12 counties due to the fallout from the severe weather.

At the Sulphur High School gym, where families took cover from the storm, Jackalyn Wright said she and her family heard what sounded like a helicopter as the tornado touched down over them.

Chad Smith, 43, said people ran into the gym as the wind picked up. The rain started coming faster and the doors slammed shut. “Just give me a beer and a lawn chair and I will sit outside and watch it,” Smith said. Instead, he took cover.

Residents in other states were also digging out from storm damage. A tornado in suburban Omaha, Nebraska, demolished homes and businesses Saturday as it moved for miles through farmland and into subdivisions, then slammed an Iowa town.

The tornado damage began Friday afternoon near Lincoln, Nebraska. An industrial building in Lancaster County was hit, causing it to collapse with 70 people inside. Several were trapped, but everyone was evacuated, and the three injuries were not life-threatening, authorities said.

One or possibly two tornadoes then spent around an hour creeping toward Omaha, leaving behind damage consistent with an EF3 twister, with winds of 135 to 165 mph (217 to 265 kph), said Chris Franks, a meteorologist in the National Weather Service’s Omaha office.

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds spent Saturday touring the damage and arranging for assistance for the damaged communities. Formal damage assessments are still underway, but the states plan to seek federal help.

Associated Press journalists Acacia Coronado in Austin, Texas, and Sophia Tareen in Chicago contributed to this report.

This image taken from video provided by KOCO shows damage caused by a tornado in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (KOCO via AP)

A car lies on its side after being knocked over during a tornado that tore through downtown Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ken Miller)

A school bus lies on its side after being knocked over during a tornado in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ken Miller)

A row of buildings is left damaged by a tornado in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ken Miller)

A man walks past tornado damage in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024, after severe storms hit the area the night before. (Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman via AP)

Tornado damage in Sulphur, Okla., is pictured on Sunday, April 28, 2024, after severe storms hit the area the night before. (Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman via AP)

People look at tornado damage in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024, after severe storms hit the area the night before. (Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman via AP)

A man is surrounded by tornado damage after severe storms moved through the night before in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman via AP)

Charlie Schwake walks past his property in Sulphur after a tornado hit the area the night before in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman via AP)

This image taken from video provided by KOCO shows damage caused by a tornado in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (KOCO via AP)

This image taken from video provided by KOCO shows damage caused by a tornado in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (KOCO via AP)

This image taken from video provided by KOCO shows damage caused by a tornado in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (KOCO via AP)

This image taken from video provided by KOCO shows damage caused by a tornado in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (KOCO via AP)

This image taken from video provided by KOCO shows a crew working on clearing debris caused by a tornado in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (KOCO via AP)

This image taken from video provided by KOCO shows buildings destroyed by a tornado in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (KOCO via AP)

Sean Thomas Sledd salvages items from his room after it was hit by a tornado the night before in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. Sledd sought shelter at Oklahoma School for the deaf. (Bryan Terry/The Oklahoman via AP)

People remove items from a building damaged by a tornado in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ken Miller)

A row of buildings is left damaged by a tornado in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ken Miller)

A car lies knocked over on its side after a tornado tore through Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ken Miller)

This image taken from video provided by KOCO shows damage caused by a tornado in Sulphur, Okla., Sunday, April 28, 2024. (KOCO via AP)