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.
ALSO READ: Ruturaj Gaikwad Helps CSK To Knock-out KXIP From IPL 2020
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.
Hits
Eoin Morgan
Ishan Kishan has been enjoying a consistent run for KKR in the recent games for the IPL 2020. He was desperate to score, especially after failing to score in the last couple of games. He amassed as many as 68 runs in just 35 deliveries with the help of five fours and 6 sixes.
Pat Cummins
Pat Cummins has always been a go-to bowler for KKR and he didn’t disappoint when the team needed him. Bowling his second over, he managed to scalp two wickets of Ben Stokes and Steve Smith. He completed his spell after scalping four wickets and conceded just 34 runs.
Flops
Robin Uthappa
It’s been the second consecutive game when Robin Uthappa has failed miserably. RR hasn’t managed to win a single match since his brilliant knock against RCB.
Ben Stokes
After scoring match-winning performance against MI and DC, Ben Stokes has been fairly consistent for RR, but in earlier matches, he has failed to gain momentum in the middle. However, his failure has led to RR getting disqualified.
