KKR finally broke their five-game losing streak in this edition of the Indian Premier League with a commanding victory over the in-form RR. Shreyas Iyer and his men dominated the game across all departments, thoroughly outplaying the Royals on the day.
The Knight Riders would be particularly pleased with the fact that their batting order scored some crucial runs to take the side over the line after multiple rounds of shuffling in the previous few games. For the Royals, however, Jos Buttler’s failure caused quite a few problems, with the scoring rate going down considerably.
Iyer won the toss and decided to put the Rajasthan Royals into bat. Umesh Yadav once again came good with the new ball, as he got rid of the dangerous Devdutt Padikkal early on in the innings, putting pressure on the RR batsmen. Buttler started in a similar fashion to the previous game, taking his time as Iyer used a split approach, bowling spin from one end, and pace from the other.
The strategy worked as the flow of runs was curtailed to a considerable extent. Sanju Samson, nevertheless, started off very well, scoring a few boundaries of the KKR bowlers, including a superbly placed square cut which pierced the gap between the two fielders at point and gully.
Although he played 25 balls to get to 22, Buttler could not capitalise this time around, as a brilliant effort from Shivam Mavi off Tim Southee brought up the Englishman’s wicket. Karun Nair was the next to walk into the middle but could also not make a huge impact, scoring a run-a-ball 13, further compounding Rajasthan’s problems.
Samson was his side’s best bet, but the Kerala batsman could not score quick enough, as both he and Riyan Parag were dismissed off successive balls as KKR managed to take a stranglehold of the game. Nonetheless, Shimron Hetmyer’s excellent form as a finisher continued, striking two maximums off Southee’s final over to take his side to 152/5.
With a score of 153 to defend, early wickets were the only thing that could potentially save the Royals, and they did, in fact, get one, with Aaron Finch getting castled off a 146 kmph Kuldeep Sen missile.
Baba Indrajit was also not able to stick around much further, falling for a 16-ball 15, as Rajasthan sniffed an opportunity to turn the game around. But that was not to happen, with Iyer and Nitish Rana joining hands in the middle. The duo made full use of their experience, bringing the KKR chase on track, expertly dealing with the Rajasthan bowlers throughout the middle overs before the fall of Iyer’s wicket. Iyer was looking like the one to win the game for the Knight Riders, and as a result, his dismissal presented yet another opportunity for the Royals.
Rinku Singh had other plans, as he and Nitish Rana focussed on taking the game deep, keeping the climbing asking rate out of their mind. With around 10 runs per over needed from the last four, Rinku Singh struck a couple of boundaries off Yuzvendra Chahal, and also benefitted from some sloppy fielding from the Royals. In the end, it was an easy chase, as Rana smashed a six off the first ball of the 20th over to hand his side their first victory after five losses on the trot.
Brief scores
Kolkata Knight Riders 158 for 3 (Rana 48*, Rinku 42*, Shreyas 34) beat Rajasthan Royals 152 for 5 (Samson 54, Hetmyer 27*, Southee 2-46) by seven wickets
