The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) locked horns with Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the ongoing season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata. After winning the toss, the RR skipper, Steve Smith asked the hosts to bat first and his decision paid him rich dividends as they chased down the total of 176 runs with 4 balls to spare.
During the toss, the KKR skipper, Dinesh Karthik said that they have made two changes in their squad as Harry Gurney and KC Cariappa made way for Carlos Brathwaite and Prasidh Krishna. On the other hand, RR also made a couple of changes as Ashton Turner and Dhawal Kulkarni made way for Oshane Thomas and Varun Aaron.
Regular wickets
Surprisingly, Shubman Gill came out to open the innings with Lynn, despite Sunil Narine being in the squad. Lynn was dismissed by Aaron in the very first over, then Nitish Rana started building a partnership with Gill, but they only managed to score just 31 runs for the second wicket before the latter getting out in the 5th over by the same bowler. Even, Rana got out in the 9th over and Narine came out to bat at no.5.
WATCH – Dinesh Karthik Went For A Carnage In The Final Over
Narine and Karthik started making a partnership for the fourth wicket as they amassed 38 runs and 25 of them came in the 11th over of Shreyas Gopal, but Narine got run-out in the next over. Andre Russell came out to bat next, but he failed to deliver as he was dismissed by Thomas in the 17th over.
However, Karthik kept on smashing the RR bowlers from one end. His real carnage came in the final over of Jaydev Unadkat when he smashed him for 18 runs with the help of two sixes and a four and helped KKR to reach the total of 175/6 in their quota of 20 overs.
WATCH – Riyan Parag Got Hit-wicket After Smashing A Six
During the chase, RR openers, Ajinkya Rahane, and Sanju Samson started off well as they scored 53 runs in the first five overs itself, but the visitors lost the plot after that as they lost three wickets of Rahane, Samson, and Smith in next three overs of Narine and Piyush Chawla. However, Ben Stokes and Riyan Parag started to make a partnership but only managed to get 15 runs as the former was dismissed by Chawla in the 11th over owing to a brilliant catch by Russell.
Parag and Archer’s finish
Parag's knock…!!https://t.co/LPkvHde0UE
— Vidshots (@Vidshots1) April 25, 2019
After those dismissals, Parag made some partnerships with Stuart Binny and Gopal and RR needed 18 runs in last two overs. On the fourth ball of the penultimate over, Parag smashed a huge six off Russell, but on the very next ball, he got hit wicket. After his wicket, RR needed 9 runs in the final over and Archer finished the game with a four and a six on the first two balls of the final over. Rajasthan won the game by 3 wickets and 4 balls to spare.
Archer's finish…!!https://t.co/Wb37j4xA9G
— Vidshots (@Vidshots1) April 25, 2019
Brief Score:
Rajasthan Royals – 177/7 in 19.2 overs (R Parag: 47, A Rahane: 34; P Chawla; 3/20) defeated Kolkata Knight Riders – 175/6 in 20 overs (D Karthik: 97*; V Aaron: 2/20, S Gopal: 1/31) by 3 wickets and 4 balls to spare
