During the 49th match of the 11th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) at Kolkata, Kolkata Knight Riders beat Rajasthan Royals by six wickets tor register their seventh victory of the season.

After Dinesh Karthik won the toss and put the visitors into bat, Rajasthan Royals was seen wasting a sensational start. They crumbled from 68-1 in the powerplay to 142 in 19 overs. Kuldeep Yadav did most of the damage for the hosts.

In the second innings, Sunil Narine’s burst in the initial over gave signs of the home team running away with the chase. However, Rajasthan Royals’ bowlers stood tall to put a halt against the run-scoring of the opposition. Individual starts from Chris Lynn and Karthik eventually sealed the chase for the Knight Riders.

Now, we will look at the hits and flops players in this match.

Hits

Kuldeep Yadav (KKR) – Kuldeep Yadav was introduced into the attack in the eight over of the innings. On the second delivery that he bowled, he saw Ajinkya Rahane (11) playing an unorthodox and uncalled for shot only to be bowled on a delivery which wouldn’t have caused him much harm had he played with a straight bat. Adjourned as the ‘Man of the Match’, he ended up with bowling figures of 4-0-20-4.

Ben Stokes (RR) – Coming in to bat at No. 5 in the 10th over, Ben Stokes failed to contribute significantly with the bat in hand. He scored 11 (13). That being said, in the second innings, he registered an awe-inspiring spell of bowling which saw him registering bowling figures of 4-1-15-3, dismissing Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa and Chris Lynn.

Dinesh Karthik (KKR) – In the first innings, Dinesh Karthik kept his cool when the opposition batsmen were going bonkers in the powerplay. He made effective bowling changes which came to the home team’s rescue. He successfully opted to go for a review which perhaps no one else on the field believed in. Coming in to bat at No. 5 in the ninth over in a sensitive situation, he scored 41* (31) with the help of five fours and a six to seal the chase for his team.

Flops

Ajinkya Rahane (RR) – Ajinkya Rahane’s indifferent form in this season has found him more often that not in this section in his season. Coming in to bat at No. 3 in the fifth over, he failed to continue the momentum which was started by the openers and ended up playing a needless shot to be dismissed on 11 (12) with the help of one four.

Robin Uthappa (KKR) – Coming in to bat at No. 3 in the second over, Robin Uthappa failed to build a partnership as he top-edged a pull, not for the first time in his season, in the fourth over. He ended up scoring 4 (6).

Krishnappa Gowtham (RR) – Coming in to bat at No. 7 in the 11th over, Krishnappa Gowtham had almost half the innings to get his eye in and play his big shots. He was beaten for pace by Shivam Mavi in the 13th over when he was caught behind on 3 (5). Opening the bowling for his team, he conceded 21 runs in his first over. He ended up with expensive bowling figures of 2-0-32-0.