Mumbai: Rajasthan Royals after a couple of disappointing encounter, finally returned in winning ways. They registered a six-wicket victory over Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League (IPL) on Saturday (April 24).
This team, this performance. 💗💪#HallaBol | #RoyalsFamily | #RRvKKR | pic.twitter.com/iqiWvrryYq
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) April 24, 2021
Batting first at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, KKR were held on 133/9 by a superb collective effort from the Royals bowlers before skipper Sanju Samson (42 not-out) alongside David Miller(24 not-out) lead the side reach the target with seven deliveries to spare.
Rajasthan, chasing 134, despite losing both their openers got to 50/2 in the powerplay which laid the foundation. Teenager Yeshasvi Jaiswal looked in good touch but went home for 22 hitting it straight to the substitute fielder Nagarkoti.
Samson joined hands with Shivam Dube(22) to adding a valuable 45 runs for the third wicket to get close to the target. KKR bowlers though kept it tight enough taking the game to the wire. The seaming duo of Shivam Mavi (1/19) Prasidh Krishna(1/20) were quite good while Varun Chakravarthy (2/32) was putting enough pressure on the batsman to make mistakes. However, with such a below par total to get, Rajasthan kept their composure taking the game over the line with David Miller and skipper Samson playing it steadily.
Earlier, KKR after a middle order muddle managed to get to 133/9 in 20 overs. Losing wickets at regular intervals completely shattered their rhythm. Royals bowler were piling pressure on Eoin Morgan side right from the word go.
Nitish Rana(22) and Rahul Tripathi(36) failed to build up the innings despite a good start before Sunil Narine, Andre Russell and Morgan all went home for single digits. Dinesh Karthik’s gritty 24 ball 25 sent Kolkata to 133/9.For Rajasthan, Chris Morris (4/23) lead a clinical bowling performance with supports from Chetan Sakariya (1/31), Mustafizur Rahman(1/22) and Jaydev Unadkat (1/25) as well.
KKR’s middle order form has been miserable this season with their skipper Morgan himself finding it hard to get the rhythm while Sunil Narine’s batting too has been disappointing with single digits scores in the last couple of matches.
Brief scores: Rajasthan Royals 134/4 in 18.5 overs (Sanju Samson 41*, David Miller 24*; Varun Chakravarthy 2/32, Shivam Mavi 1/19) beat Kolkata Knight Riders (Rahul Tripathi 36, Dinesh Karthik 25; Chris Morris 4/23, Mustafizur Rahman 1/22) by 6 wickets.
