The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 has reached the stage where no game is a dead rubber. In the 54th league stage game, the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and the Rajasthan Royals (RR) locked horns with each other in an undesignated knockout clash, and the Knight Riders won the match owing to a brilliant performance by Pat Cummins and Eoin Morgan who took a 4-wicket haul and a fifty respectively.
RR’s skipper Steve Smith chose to field upon winning the toss and doing their best, Jofra Archer got the wicket of Nitish Rana in the first over itself. Repairing the situation after the early strike of the opponent, Rahul Tripathi, and Shubman Gill targeted the other bowlers batting Archer as the latter accelerated quickly, but got out while sweeping Rahul Tewatia. Even the move of promoting Sunil Narine above the rest backfired as he was dismissed in the same over itself.
WATCH – Flying Dinesh Karthik Sends Back Ben Stokes Cheaply In Dubai
Two quick wickets – Rahul Tripathi (39 from 34), and Dinesh Karthik, brought captain Eoin Morgan (68 from 35) and Andre Russell together. Adding 40 runs briskly with Russell, Morgan provided the team the lost momentum back. Some late acceleration from the skipper alongside Pat Cummins led KKR to a daunting total of 191.
During the chase, the Royals smashed 19 runs off the first five deliveries of Pat Cummins, but the latter saved his best for the last game as he made a comeback and dismissed Robin Uthappa on the last ball of the first over. The Royals were jolted in no time again as Ben Stokes (18 from 11) walked back courtesy of a blinder of a catch by wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik.
RR’s score from 27/2 and it went from bad to worse as they were reeling 37/5 with Cummins dismissing Steve Smith, and Shivam Mavi getting rid of Sanju Samson. Looking at his scalding run, skipper Morgan gave an extra over to Cummins, and he got the wicket of Riyan Parag on a duck.
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Though the tumbling stopped for a brief while, when Jos Buttler came in alongside Rahul Tewatia, and the duo added 43 runs. However, Cummins came back to get his fourth, making the dangerous Buttler (35 from 22) his last victim. Barring the first five balls of the innings, RR never looked being in the chase and eventually ended up gifting Kolkata Knight Riders a massive 60 runs.
Here’s how Twitter reacted:
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— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) November 1, 2020
What an extraordinary cricket match. The occasion can affect the very best. And what a brilliant, topsy-turvy #IPL this has been
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) November 1, 2020
Huge win for @KKRiders they will be keeping an eye on the next two games very closely! #morgan #cummins #VarunChakravarthy #shivammavi
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) November 1, 2020
KKR's position in Points Table:
After 29 Oct – No. 5
After 30 Oct – No. 6
After 31 Oct – No. 7
After 1st game on 1st Nov – No. 8
After 2nd game on 1st Nov – No. 4What a turn-around #5 to #6 to #7 to #8 to #4 in 4 days !!! @KKRiders #IPL2020 #KKR #KKRvRR
— Bharath Seervi (@SeerviBharath) November 1, 2020
Rajasthan gave false hopes with that start in Sharjah tbh. Missed Stokes at the start but too many changes and some really poor calls from Smith. Out of form and made some really risky calls with batting and bowling options. Hope they find better balance next year.
— Nikhil 🏏 (@CricCrazyNIKS) November 1, 2020
Never been so excited to see who will be at the bottom of the table. CSK or RR. #IPL2020
— Trendulkar (@Trendulkar) November 1, 2020
four one sided games on the final weekend of the group stages #KKRvRR #IPL2020
— Gaurav Kalra (@gauravkalra75) November 1, 2020
Gutted for the @rajasthanroyals tonight but elated for @NUFC beating the toffees #howaythelads
— Graeme Swann (@Swannyg66) November 1, 2020
Kaboom!!! 💥 https://t.co/G8RFcZTUG0
— Danny Morrison (@SteelyDan66) November 1, 2020
That's Karthik's sau guna maaf moment. Oof!
— Prem Panicker (@prempanicker) November 1, 2020
Big games are meant for big players. Captain Morgan and Pat Cummins instrumental in a huge victory. Now, only a ‘slender’ defeat would keep the loser of #DCvRCB game alive without worrying about the #SRHvMI result. #KKR has done what they could have. Over to LUCK. #IPL2020
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) November 1, 2020
Funny IPL, tomorrow the winner will get advantage in playoffs, and loser may not even qualify after dominating first half. 😭 #IPL
— Silly Point (@FarziCricketer) November 1, 2020
