Bowling first at the grand home ground, Eden Gardens, Kolkata Knight Riders managed to get Rajasthan Royals all out for 142 runs in their first innings. Man-in-form Jos Buttler could not go on to make his sixth consecutive fifty and RR lost their way after his dismissal. Kuldeep Yadav and Shivam Mavi were particularly lethal tonight. A combined bowling effort from KKR stopped Rajasthan at only 142 runs.

Earlier in the night, it was the home captain Dinesh Karthik who won the toss and chose to field first. KKR had to leave out Piyush Chawla due to him being unfit and included Shivam Mavi in his place. Rajasthan Royals made three changes to their team. They dropped D’Arcy Short and brought back Ish Sodhi. Anureet Singh and Rahul Tripathi were also included.

The start from Rajasthan Royals was anything but brilliant. Rahul Tripathi stepped up a gear and got into boundaries in the second over. Buttler continued the momentum and smacked all balls of the third over bowled by Shivam Mavi for boundaries. In that patch, Rajasthan created an IPL record by smacking 10 consecutive balls for boundary. They also brought up their team fifty in just 20 balls.

The plot changed after that and it was not in the favor of the visiting team. They lost Rahul Tripathi for 27(15) in the fifth over and the brakes started to take effect. By the end of the powerplay, RR stood at a powerful 68/1.

Once Jos Buttler got out there was no one in RR’s middle order who could stop the flow of wickets. Kuldeep Yadav wrecked havoc and took 4/20 in four overs. Except for Jaidev Unadkat’s26(18), no one added significantly to the run tally after Buttler’s 39. Russell took 2/13 while Krishna also took two wickets. Mavi was impressive with his pace and line.

KKR needs 143 runs to win.