Dubai: Kolkata Knight Riders put up a solid bowling performance to beat Rajasthan Royals by 37 runs on Wednesday (September 30) in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL). Chasing a commendable target of 175, the Royals stumbled early losing half of their side inside eight overs.
Skipper Steve Smith went early edging behind to Dinesh Karthik for just three. Sanju Samson looked desperate from start and mistimed it trying to hit over mid-wicket to find Sunil Narine. Jos Buttler went soon after for just 21 off 16 balls holing to Varun Chakravarthy.
Rahul Tewatia, who was the man of the moment in the last match failed to replicate his form getting out for just 14. Although Tom Curran tried his best hitting his maiden IPL fifty but that wasn’t enough to take his team through.
Meanwhile, Pat Cummins finally looked like playing in a way the worth his huge price tag giving away just 13 runs in three overs while taking the valuable wicket of Smith. The Royals batsmen struggled to put up a fight against a rigid KKR bowling attack who kept it tight from start to finish.
At one point, it looked like they would not pass even 100 but Curran’s brilliant knock off 36 balls ensured his side leave the field with little bit respect ending at 137/9 after 20overs.
Earlier in the match, Shubman Gill and Sunil Narine started steadily putting 36 runs for the first wicket. Narine was dropped early by Robin Uthappa but the Caribbean failed to capitalise on it and got bowled by Jaydev Unadkat for a brisk 15. Gill and Nitish Rana started steading the ship before Rana went for a big hit of Rahul Tewatia over long-off but only managed to find Riyan Parag who took an easy catch.
This was the same throughout the KKR’s innings as they struggled to build partnerships even after getting good starts. Jofra Archer bowled a game-changing spell getting vital two wickets of Gill and skipper Karthik while giving away just 18 runs.
Kolkata had their hopes on their talisman Andre Russell and the Jamaican looked like he would start taking the game away from Rajasthan but got out chasing a delivery outside off-stump of Ankit Rajpoot only to be found by Unadkat at deep-backward point region for breezy 24 of 14 balls. Towards the end, Eoin Morgan tried his best to take the total to a fighting 174/6 in 20overs.
Brief scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 174/6 (Shubman Gill 47, Eoin Morgan 34; Jofra Archer 2/18) beat Rajasthan Royals 137/9 (Tom Curran 54*, Jos Buttler 21; Pat Cummins 1/13) by 37 runs.
