Following a defeat in their first match, the Kolkata Knight Riders triumphed easily by eight wickets over the Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati. Despite Sunil Narine’s absence, KKR’s spinners performed admirably, limiting RR to 151/9. Then, as KKR cantered to the goal in 17.3 overs, Quinton de Kock led the reply with an undefeated 97 off 61, which featured eight fours and six sixes.
The middle overs. KKR employed spin for seven of the nine overs during this time, with Varun Chakaravarthy and Moeen Ali, who replaced an ailing Sunil Narine, impeding RR’s progress. They each took four wickets and gave up just a six and a four, helping RR reach 56/5 with just 22 runs in boundaries during this phase. On the other hand, despite RR’s heavy reliance on spin, de Kock managed to pace his innings effectively, make smart stroke choices, and keep KKR from falling behind in the middle overs. Ajinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi provided De Kock with strong support as KKR scored 38 runs in boundaries and 22 more than RR did in the 7–15 overs phase.
RAJASTHAN ROYALS
PowerPlay: With a top-edged pluck for a four from Yashasvi Jaiswal and a well-placed boundary behind square on the off side from Sanju Samson, the RR openers got off to a fast start with nine runs off Spencer Johnson in the first over. Jaiswal hit his first six by going over the leg side in a 12-run over against Johnson after an efficient 5-run over from Vaibhav Arora. Samson, who had been bowled after yorking himself down the track after being tied down by Arora in his opening over, chose to walk across in the crease and hit a boundary. Harshit Rana gave up just seven runs in the fifth over, even though Riyan Parag struck a six off him. In the last over of the powerplay, RR reached 50 thanks to sixes from Arora for both Parag and Jaiswal.
Phase score – 54/1 [RR: 9.00, 4s/6s: 4/4]
Middle overs: Jaiswal wasn’t playing at his best, mistiming and unable to find the spaces, even though he scored two sixes and two fours during the powerplay. However, Parag was scoring runs much more quickly, as he swatted away a short ball from Varun to get his third six. But Quinton de Kock held on to a high catch, and RR’s substitute captain left in the same over after a lofted attempt went wrong. Jaiswal gave a catch to long on, and Moeen, who was keeping things neat at the other end, received his reward. Fazalhaq Farooqi was replaced by Wanindu Hasaranga, who was elevated up the list but ended up becoming Varun’s second scalp.Nitish Rana attempted to clear space for himself but was bowled by Moeen, who finished with superb figures of 2-23, adding to RR’s problems. In the 14th over, RR reached the 100-mark thanks to a pair of fortunate boundaries from Dhruv Jurel off Harshit. RR had a lot of work to do at 110/6 after 15 overs after impact substitute Shubham Dubey fell to Arora after hitting a boundary.
Phase score – 56/5 [RR: 6.22, 4s/6s: 4/1]
Death overs: Varun concluded with 2 for 17 after giving up just 2 runs in his final over at the beginning of the death overs. In the 17th, Jurel hit two fours against Harshit, resulting in 11 runs. However, Johnson’s subsequent over yielded just eight runs. With just seven runs coming in the 19th over, despite Jofra Archer’s six, Harshit finished his performance with a magnificent over, taking the wickets of Jurel and Shimron Hetmyer. As RR just reached 150, Archer also smashed a six off Johnson in the last over before being dismissed by the Australian pacer.
Phase score – 41/3 [RR: 8.20, 4s/6s: 3/2]
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS
PowerPlay: Archer, who just finished delivering the most costly IPL session, got off to a strong start by trouncing Moeen in the first over while giving up just two runs. Before facing Archer, De Kock aggressively cut and pulled the England pacer for a four and a six after drawing Maheesh Theekshana for the opening four of the innings. Following a six-run over from Parag, RR held KKR in check by slowing it down. The South African then hit Theekshana for a six, but only nine runs were scored in that over. KKR were the first team to reach a sub-50 pp total in this IPL as Sandeep Sharma, with his variations, finished the containing job for RR in the powerplay, but without taking any wickets as he gave up just 5.
Phase score – 40/0 [RR: 6.66, 4s/6s: 4/2]
Middle overs: When Moeen was run out trying a second, his battle (5 off 12) finally came to an end. Then, as KKR reached 50 in the eighth over, two more than RR had taken, Hasaranga entered the attack and was hit for fours each by de Kock and Ajinkya Rahane. Parag bowled a third and kept it tight on a track that helped the slower bowlers. Rahane’s skillful pull for a six relieved some of the pressure after Theekshana and RR burned a review before heading upstairs for a lbw ruling. De Kock reviewed a leg-before decision in the same over, and the final ruling again sided with RR. Rahane top-edged a sweep after Hasaranga’s strike in his second over, and de Kock then cleared the deep midwicket boundary to reach a fifty off 36 balls. While Hasaranga was hit for two fours (one each for de Kock and Raghuvanshi) as KKR reached 100 in the 13th over, an over faster than RR, he also smacked a six off Parag in his last over. By the end of the 15th over, the required rate had dropped from 8.2 at the end of the 10th over to 6.8 thanks to a boundary for Raghuvanshi off Rana.
Phase score – 78/2 [RR: 8.66, 4s/6s: 5/3]
Death overs:
It went well for KKR with 34 needed off 5 overs. Tushar Deshpande’s boundary was followed by Theekshana, who gave up five wides, which made things simpler for KKR. In the 18th over, De Kock put the finishing touches on his team’s victory by hitting two sixes and a four against Archer.
Phase score – 35/0 [RR: 14.00, 4s/6s: 2/2]
Brief Scores: Rajasthan Royals 151/9 in 20 overs (Dhruv Jurel 33, Yashasvi Jaiswal 29; Varun Chakaravarthy 2-17, Moeen Ali 2-23) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 153/2 in 17.3 overs (Quinton de Kock 97*, Angkrish Raghuvanshi 22*; Wanindu Hasaranga 1-34) by 8 wickets.
