Kolkata Knight Riders broke a five-match losing streak by defeating in-form Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets in the Indian Premier League here on Monday. KKR restricted RR to 152 for five after bowling first and then chased down the target with five balls to spare to get back on track and heaved a sigh of relief. Nitish Rana (48 not out) followed while Rinku Singho Scoring 42 off 23 helped KKR chase down the target with ease.
Aaron FinchThe bad run continued as he was cleared by Kuldeep Sen As soon as KKR started fast to chase their target.
KKR’s batsmen were finding it difficult on the slow pace of the Wankhede pitch where shots were not easy to make at all.
Baba Indrajito (15) was bounced out by famous krishna soon but captain Shreyas Iyer (34 off 32) and Nitish Rana batted sensibly to help KKR reach fifty in nine overs.
It was Rana who finally managed to free his arms in the 11th over, and used sweeps and reverse sweeps to take 16 runs to beat R Ashwin 4-6-4.
Then Iyer jumped Yuzvendra Chahali With Rana at wide long-on boundary to bring up a half-century stand for the third wicket.
Just when Iyer felt that he was loosening, he shrugged Trent Boult Delivery to Samson behind the stumps in the next over. Iyer hit three fours and a six in his innings.
New Man Singh made his arrival at the crease by hitting a four off the first ball.
46 needed off 30 balls, Singh played the shot of the day, a paddle scoop at 141kph Kuldeep Sen propelled his feet high and powerful over the fine leg fence.
Singh meant business as he found the fence on crucial occasions to bring the equation down to 31 runs in the first 18 balls.
Samson’s decision to bring Chahal back into the attack in the 18th over backfired as Singh took advantage of his chance against the spinner and scored 18 runs in the last 12 balls with successive fours.
Singh continued his attack against Famous, who conceded 17 runs in the final over, including two boundaries off the left-arm blade, as KKR wrapped up the match in style.
Earlier, KKR restricted RR to 152 for five despite a half-century from rival skipper Samson.
For RR, Samson’s 54 off 49 balls was the only saving grace, as wickets fell at regular intervals.
The KKR bowlers justified the decision of captain Iyer in which he asked the opposition team to bat first by taking quick wickets.
A late attack from Shimron Hetmyar (27 not out off 13 balls) took Rajasthan past the 150-run mark.
RR lost the opener devdutt padikkal (2) cheaply as a fast bowler Umesh Yadav (1/24) took a comeback catch in the third over.
Samson, who hit seven fours and a six, came in form joss butler (22 off 25 balls; 3×4) and the two tried to take the innings forward, sharing a 48-run partnership for the second wicket as the KKR bowlers did not allow the RR batsmen to free their arms.
Samson carved through point to hit his first boundary in the fourth over as RR was dismissed for 12.
Samson and Butler tried to break the bond in the fifth over, giving RR 15 runs. Both hit Umesh for three boundaries, with the captain hitting two of them.
Samson Lofted Anukul Roy (1/28) On deep extra cover for his first maximum as RR scored 11 runs in the sixth over, 38 in the power-play. RR captain cut again Sunil Narine (0/19) for another limit.
But RR slipped to 55 for two after the pacer Tim Southee (2/46) removed the rusty-looking butler, who had been caught by Shivam Mavi over a long period of time.
Samson hit two consecutive fours off Mavi (1/33) but was devoid of partners. He could only add 35 runs Karun Nair (13) and with 25 Riyan Parag (19).
Karun (13), Parag (19) and Samson fell in quick succession as RR slipped from 90 for three to 115 for five.
While Nair became the only victim of left-arm spinner Roy, Parag was caught by Roy at deep-mid wicket by Southee.
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Samson tries to score a quick goal and gives Singh a skier at deep midwicket.
Hetmyer and Ashwin (6 not out) added 37 not out off 18 balls to take RR’s total past 150 runs.
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