Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) came out hard on Rajasthan Royals (RR) with the help of their fast bowling department comprising of Shivam Mavi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, and Pat Cummins as they blow up RR’s top-order and made the Royals succumb to their first defeat of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020. Chasing 175, RR got off to a worst possible start as Cummins got the first scalp as he saw the back of his Australian teammates Steve Smith with a brilliant delivery in his very first over.
All eyes were on Sanju Samson but Shivam Mavi sent back of both Samson and a dangerous-looking Jos Buttler. Nagarkoti came in as first change and he took just six balls to stamp his authority on the game as he dismissed both Robin Uthappa and Riyan Parag to leave RR reeling at 5-43 in 8 overs.
Rahul Tewatia failed to emulate his last game heroics Varun Chakravarthy dismissed followed by the dismissal of Jofra Archer owing to a brilliant flying catch by Kamlesh Nagarkoti. In the end, Tom Curran’s maiden IPL 50 wasn’t enough for the Royals as they eventually went down by 37 runs.
WATCH – Kamlesh Nagarkoti Took A Flying Catch To Dismiss Jofra Archer
Batting first, KKR’s fiery opener, Sunil Narine failed against as he was dismissed by Jaydev Unadkat after playing some fiery shots. After his dismissal, Nitish Rana played some delightful strokes during his innings, forming a great foil to Shubman Gill, who played some classy strokes during his 34-ball 47. The duo stitched a 46-run-stand for the 2nd wicket before Rana being dismissed by Shreyas Gopal.
KKR promoted Andre Russell to the No.4 spot and Smith immediately turned to Archer and, the move worked brilliantly as the fast bowler claimed both Gill and Dinesh Karthik [1] in quick succession. Russell smashed three sixes off Gopal and Ankit Rajpoot during his 14-ball 24 but for once, before getting caught at deep-point while trying to nail a wide yorker from the fast bowler for a six.
WATCH – Sanju Samon Takes A Blinder To Dismiss Pat Cummins
But Eoin Morgan displayed why he is one of the great modern-day cricketers as his calm-and-collected knock, backed by contributions from Pat Cummins and Kamlesh Nagarkoti helped KKR to score 54 runs in the last 5 overs, eventually ending with 6-174 in 20 overs.
Hits
Shivam Mavi
All eyes were on Sanju Samson but Shivam Mavi sent back of both Samson and a dangerous-looking Jos Buttler. Mavi completed his spell of four overs in one go itself and conceded just 13 runs.
Kamlesh Nagarkoti
Nagarkoti, playing his first season with KKR, had earlier picked his maiden IPL wicket when he dismissed Robin Uthappa off the first ball of the seventh over. pulled off a sensational flying catch to get rid of Jofra Archer off the bowling of Varun Chakravarthy.
Flops
Sanju Samson
After scoring matching winning hall-centuries in the first two games of RR against CSK and KXIP, all eyes were on Sanju Samson to help his team to get over the line but, he failed miserably.
Steve Smith
As the captain of the team, everyone eas expecting Steve Smith to play responsibly but he was dismissed while playing some rash shots
