Rajasthan Royals (RR) finally managed to break their losing streak in the IPL 2021 as Chris Morris bowled a four-wicket haul spell to restrict Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to a below-par total. While chasing a meager score of 134, Royals’ skipper Sanju Samson made sure he gets his team over line as he played an uncharacteristic 41-ball 42 alongside useful contributions from Yashasvi Jaiswal, Shivam Dube, and David Miller as RR chased down to chase the target with 6 wickets in hand and 7 balls to spare.
Winning the toss, Samson asked KKR to bat first, and the Knight Riders witnessed a regular fall of wickets. Having labored his way to 11 from 19, Shubman Gill perished in the powerplay. Crawling 25/1 after the end of the powerplay, Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi showed some attacking instincts, but KKR lost Rana, Sunil Narine, and Eoin Morgan in back-to-back overs which left them reeling at 4/61 in the 11th over. Morgan witnessed a diamond duck after a huge miscommunication with Rahul Tripathi.
WATCH – Eoin Morgan’s Hara-kiri To Register Diamond Duck
Quine inexplicably, KKR opted not to unleash Andre Russell despite their innings going nowhere. The Jamaican all-rounder came out to bat in 16th over of the KKR’s innings after the only batsman who looked slightly in the zone – Rahul Tripathi – was dismissed by Mustafizur Rahman. KKR was reduced to 133/9 from 94/5 with Chris Morris (4/23 ) denting them severely in the slog overs. Unable to repeat his heroics against CSK, Russell played a knock of 9-ball 7.
Replacing Manan Vohra, Yashaswi Jaiswal got a life on duck as Gill dropped him at backward point, but he smashed consecutive fours in the following over. Varun Chakravarthy drew the first blow for KKR as he pinned Jos Buttler (5 off 7) lbw, while Jaiswal holed out in the deep off Mavi to end his 17-ball 22.
Contrary to the unimposing powerplay yield of their opponents, Shivam Dube smashed Sunil Narine over midwicket for a six to take Royals to 50 by the end of powerplay overs. Both Sanju Samson and Dube looked in no rush during their 45-run partnership for the third wicket, which went until Chakravarthy got Dube caught at short third-man on the bowling off Prasidh Krishna.
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While skipper Samson playing the perfect role of an anchor, the Riders tied the scoring and they smelled a slight comeback when Rahul Tewatia top-edged a short delivery from Krishna straight to Nagarkoti. David Miller, however, made sure that there is no further damage to their batting, contributing 24 from 23 in a run-a-ball 33-run stand to the team across the line.
Here’s how Twitter reacted:
WE WIN! 💗
— Rajasthan Royals (@rajasthanroyals) April 24, 2021
Where does #KKR go from here? Defending 133 and no attacking field at all! No slip to Varun or Cummins? What are they thinking? @rajasthanroyals was totally in control from ball one.
— Boria Majumdar (@BoriaMajumdar) April 24, 2021
https://twitter.com/kamaalrkhan/status/1386013845857124354?s=20
Very good knock Samson! Played the situation perfectly and took his side home. A vital win for them.
Kolkata can keep bragging about the brand of game without playing anywhere close to it.
— Nikhil 🏏 (@CricCrazyNIKS) April 24, 2021
Well done @rajasthanroyals for winning this game convincingly. Bowling was top notch from Morris and Chetan. Kkr needs to regroup quickly before it’s too late.They have a better team on paper.
— Irfan Pathan (@IrfanPathan) April 24, 2021
Did gill need to throw the ball up in the air ? He didn’t touch the boundary after throwing it up in the air !! #IPL2021 #KKRvRR
— Rohan Gavaskar (@rohangava9) April 24, 2021
Just a food for thought for @KKRiders management, you guys should look at sending #Russell up the order rather than waiting for the 16th, sometimes gut feel is much better than ppl punching nos! Brilliant bowling by @rajasthanroyals and @Tipo_Morris ! #KKRvRR
— Kris Srikkanth (@KrisSrikkanth) April 24, 2021
Parag x Tewatia 🤝 🤳🏽
— Shai Hope (@shaidhope) April 24, 2021
That is the kind of innings that must please Sanju Samson; and one many were waiting for.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 24, 2021
Such a matured and responsible innings from @IamSanjuSamson . Hope, captaincy is making him a better batter. But, Chris Morris 'FOUR' was the winning four. #KKRvsRR #RRvKKR
— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh) April 24, 2021
https://twitter.com/KP24/status/1386015449473765380?s=20
#RR is back on winning ways, beating KKR by 6 wickets, bowlers lead to this easy victory for Royals and good to see Sanju Samson guiding the run chase as a captain. #IPL2021
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) April 24, 2021
