Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) is just one step behind to reach the final of IPL 2018. On Wednesday night, KKR beat Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 25 runs in the Eliminator round at Eden Gardens (Kolkata). After that victory, KKR co-owner Shah Rukh Khan thanked the team players.
RR captain Ajinkya Rahane decided to field first after winning the toss. Despite the early top-order collapse, KKR was able to score 169/7 at the end of 20 overs due to their superb middle-order batting.
Skipper Dinesh Karthik (52 runs) and Shubman Gill (28 runs) first sorted that innings and then Andre Russell once again played a blistering knock to secure a good total on the board. While skipper Karthik scored a responsible half-century, Russell played an unbeaten 49 runs knock off just 25 balls with 3 fours and 5 sixes.
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. After Tripathi was caught and bowled by KKR leg-spinner Piyush Chawla for 20 runs, Rahane had another good partnership with Sanju Samson for 62-run.
But the KKR bowlers bowled superbly in the second half of that innings and snatched a brilliant victory. Spinners bowled really well in the middle overs while the pacers brilliantly utilised the death overs when RR had the huge required-run-rate.
After securing that important victory, KKR reached the Qualifier 2 which will be played on Friday night (May 25) at Eden Gardens (Kolkata) against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH), the losing team of Qualifier 1.
KKR co-owner Shah Rukh Khan thanked the team members for that victory through his official Twitter account.
He posted, “Thx again @DineshKarthik & all u boys for the joy u r bringing to all of us. & especially happy to see @RealShubmanGill coming into his own. Also a pleasure to see Dada with the Dude at Eden.”
Thx again @DineshKarthik & all u boys for the joy u r bringing to all of us. & especially happy to see @RealShubmanGill coming into his own. Also a pleasure to see Dada with the Dude at Eden. pic.twitter.com/8la7x2yMSq
— Shah Rukh Khan (@iamsrk) May 24, 2018
The winner of Qualifier 2 will reach the final of IPL 2018 where they will meet against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) at Wankhede Stadium (Mumbai) on Sunday night (May 27).
