An inspiring performance from their fast pitchers led the Kolkata Knight Riders to a complete 37-race victory over the Rajasthan Royals in Dubai on Wednesday. Chasing 175, Rajasthan got off to a solid start with starters Jos Buttler and Steve Smith collecting 10 from Sunil Narine’s first over. But Knight Riders fought back through Pat Cummins, who made an early breakthrough in Smith’s form – the right-hander fell back for a slog but got a slim lead on the way to Dinesh Karthik behind the stumps. Shivam Mavi, then, got the Sanju Samson in shape to leave the Royals in trouble.
Buttler was joined by Robin Uthappa and the two led Rajasthan to 39-for-two after six overs. Cummins scored goals at the Powerplay, conceding just 13 and collecting a wicket. The pressure eventually took hold of Buttler, who cut hard on a Mavi pitch but ended up hitting Varun Chakravarthy squarely in the short third man. Kamlesh Nagarkoti then had Uthappa and Riyan Parag caught in the same over, as Rajasthan lost five by under 50 on the board.
Sharjah Royals hero Rahul Tewatia failed to impress against KKR and fell to Varun Chakravarthy by 10-ball 14. Rajasthan lost three more wickets for just 40 as Kolkata passed the finish line. Tom Curran was undefeated at 54.
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RR vs KKR, IPL 2020 result: Knights beat Royals by 37 runs
Previously, Eoin Morgan’s 34 undefeated to 23 propelled Kolkata Knight Riders to a competitive 174/6, after an economic spell from Jofra Archer made scoring runs difficult for the Dinesh Karthik-led team.
Kolkata Knight Riders starters Narine and Shubman Gill got off to a slow start after Steve Smith won the toss and inserted Kolkata at bat. Archer and Ankit Rajpoot shared the new ball for the Royals, with the latter picking up the pace at the Powerplay. Archer had Narine jumping into the fold, and Caribe got a breather in the third when Robin Uthappa dropped a simple bowling opportunity from Jaydev Unadkat.
At the other end, Gill caught a glimpse of his mighty punch as he threw a full delivery of Rajpoot on a long six. He then threw a short four on the third ball of Rajpoot’s second over. Meanwhile, Narine picked up a six and a four from Unadkat in the fifth before the Saurashtra pacemaker hit the center and leg stump with a slower delivery.
Nitish Rana joined forces with Gill after Narine’s firing, and Smith kept hitters guessing by using up to four bowlers within the first six overs. KKR racked up 42 on the Powerplay. Shreyas Gopal, a break-legged pitcher, entered the attack in the seventh and Gill dispatched a trailing half from the Karnataka leggie, over the middle of the field for four. Then Rana welcomed the young Riyan Parag to the attack with a maximum length.
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Rana and Gill kept the scorecard going with singles and twos, sandwiched between four through delivery pitches on mid-wicket and direct pitches. But just as Rana tried to increase the scoring rate, he holed the last ball of Rahul Tewatia’s first over. He fell by 22 with KKR at 82 by 2 in the middle of the stage. Soon after, when Gill perished 47 of 34 – caught and thrown by Archer – Kolkata was in a tough spot. Archer’s second over was for one run only.
However, the joy was short-lived for the Royals. Russell got stuck at Gopal at 13, hitting two sixes, one over the corner of the cow and one over the middle of deep ground to take Kolkata past the 100-run mark. Archer, however, was in the middle of a probing spell and the Englishman added another victim to his account, when KKR captain Karthik caught behind with one that straightened up a little after casting. Russell’s firing against Rajpoot in the next over put Rajasthan in the box. Pat Cummins joined Morgan in the middle with the Royals tightening the bolts at Kolkata’s low-middle order.
Pat Cummins and Morgan played a couple of delicious Archer shots to take some of the shine off what was proving to be an excellent night on the ball for the Royals spearhead. He finished two for 18; 14 races coming out of the end. Cummins and Morgan had added 34 for the sixth wicket when Tom Curran had the Australian fast pitcher caught on a square leg backward, thanks to a valiant effort from Sanju Samson.
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