In the Eliminator of IPL 2018, the hosts Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) beat Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 25 runs at Eden Gardens (Kolkata) on Wednesday night. KKR scored 169/7 in 20 overs while they restricted RR for just 144/4 at the end of 20 overs.
RR captain Ajinkya Rahane decided to field first after winning the toss. KKR went in deep trouble after their top-order batsmen fell early as they were once struggling 51/4. Among the top-four batsmen, three batsmen failed to reach the double-digit score while opener Chris Lynn was dismissed on 18 runs.
Among the RR bowlers, Krishnappa Gowtham (2/15), Jofra Archer (2/33) and Ben Laughlin (2/35) picked up 2 wickets each while Shreyas Gopal (1/34) got one wicket.
Chasing down that target, RR had a very good start. Their openers Rahul Tripathi and the skipper Ajinkya Rahane put 47-run partnership for the first wicket. KKR bowlers bowled brilliantly in the second half and restricted RR to 144/4 at the end of 20 overs.
Among the KKR bowlers, Piyush Chawla (2/24) collected two wickets while Prasidh Krishna (1/28) and Kuldeep Yadav (1/18) claimed one wicket each.
Now, we will look at the hits and flops players in this match.
Hits
Andre Russell (KKR)
Coming in, to bat, at no. 7 in the 14th over, Andre Russell wreaked havoc for RR he hit them like a storm. He amassed as many as 49 runs off just 25 balls with the help of three fours and five sixes. Again in the second innings, he was impressed with the ball as he bowled economically and gave away just 22 runs in his quota of 4 overs. He was even adjudged as ‘Man of the Match’.
Dinesh Karthik (KKR)
Coming in, to bat, at no. 5, Dinesh Karthik steadied the ship of KKR as they were struggling at 24-3. He along with Shubman Gill stitched a partnership of 55 runs for the 5th wicket. He got out in the 18th over after smashing 52 runs off just 38 balls with the help of 4 fours and two sixes.
Krishnappa Gowtham (RR)
Bowling the first over of the game, K Gowtham drew the blood in the same over itself by dismissing KKR’s mystery batsman Sunil Narine. He went on to scalp two priced wickets of Narine and Robin Uthappa. He finished the innings with a spell of 3-0-15-2. However, he failed to make an impact with the bat as he scored just 9* runs off 7 balls and failed to take his team home.
