Virat Kohli scored an uncharacteristically slow 33-ball 31, but Brendon McCullum (43 in 27 balls), AB de Villiers (44 in 23) and Mandeep Singh (37 in 18) made sure Bangalore still got a solid total of 176/7. Once Narine was finished smashing the bowling around, though, it was all Kolkata barring a collapse, which didn’t happen.

“We had a good total, but Sunil Narine’s innings was the turning point,” Singh, a member of India’s 2010 Under-19 World Cup team, conceded afterwards.

Bangalore, who have traditionally packed their side with high-worth batsmen but not always had a strong bowling line-up, went out with exactly five bowlers on the day, and ran out of options when the Kolkata batsmen piled on the pressure.

Singh felt adding someone like Pawan Negi, the left-arm spinner and decent lower-order bat who played one T20I in 2016, might be a good idea.

“I am also a believer that you should have more bowlers,” admitted Singh. “But our team combination is such that we only had five bowlers today. If we bring in someone like Negi, we can have six bowlers. I’m sure the team management will look at this. But, then again, if they do well, even five bowlers can be enough. And apart from when Sunil Narine was batting, our bowling was good.”

Kolkata next play Chennai Super Kings in Chennai on Tuesday, while Bangalore go back home and wait to take on Kings XI Punjab on Friday.