The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) were back to winning ways in the TATA Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 after registering a victory against Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 7 wickets on Monday at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh stitched a match-winning partnership which changed the momentum of the game as KKR sealed a crucial seven-wicket win.
Chasing 153, KKR lost an early wicket in the form of Aaron Finch, who edged the ball onto the stumps as Kuldeep Sen scalped his first wicket.
Prasidh Krishna provided the second wicket for RR after Baba Indrajith was caught by Ashwin at fine leg. KKR were 32-2 at the end of the powerplay.
RR spinners – Ravi Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal built pressure on KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer and Nitish Rana after the next three overs produced only 18 runs.
KKR were 59-2 at the halfway mark before Rana released pressure with 2 fours and six off Ravi Ashwin.
Shreyas Iyer launched a six against Chahal before he fell victim to a soft dismissal after the KKR skipper was caught behind off Boult’s bowling.
KKR required 46 off the final five overs before new batter Rinku Singh flicked an effortless six against Kuldeep Sen.
The equation was down to 31 off 18 balls. Rinku Singh added three fours and the fifty partnership was up for the fourth wicket.
KKR chased down the total with 1 required off the final over as Rana finished the game with a maximum.
Earlier, RR, who were put in to bat first, made one change – Karun Nair replaced Daryl Mitchell in the eleven.
Umesh Yadav dismissed Devdutt Padikkal after taking a catch off his own bowling as RR lost an early wicket.
Opener Jos Buttler was joined by RR skipper Sanju Samson, who struck 3 fours and a six inside the powerplay as RR were 38-1 after 6 overs.
The experienced duo stitched a 48-run partnership for the second wicket with Samson doing the majority of the hitting. Tim Southee broke the stand after Buttler was caught at long-on by Mavi.
RR were 62/2 at the half-way mark. Skipper Samson led the charge with the bat and creamed two sublime fours while Karun Nair rotated the strike at the other end.
Nair attempted to clear the ropes in the 14th over but the batter was caught by Rinku Singh off Anukul Roy’s bowling.
Fifty was up for Samson, who was joined by Riyan Parag as RR crossed the 100-run mark in the 14th over.
Narine conceded only 3 runs in the 16th over as KKR pulled things back. Tim Southee and Shivam Mavi dismissed Samson and Parag respectively after both batters were caught in the deep.
20 runs were conceded off the penultimate over after Shimron Hetmyer crunched two sixes. The left-handed batter added one more four to the total as RR posted 152-5 in the first innings.
Brief Scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 158/3 (Nitish Rana 48*, Rinku Singh 42*; Trent Boult 1-25) beat Rajasthan Royals 152/5 (Sanju Samson 54, Shimron Hetmyer 27*; Tim Southee 2-46) by 7 wickets.
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