Kolkata Knight Riders demolish Rajasthan to near playoffs
In one of the most one-sided encounters in this season’s IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders easily swept aside Rajasthan Royals by 86 runs.
After making a mammoth 171 runs in their batting innings, the five-time champions destroyed the Royals top order, restricting them to only 85 runs in 16.1 overs.
This means that Mumbai Indians are almost out of the tournament. Thy will have to beat Sunrisers Hyderabad by 171 runs tomorrow to secure a spot in the playoffs, which seems like an impossible mission.
Gill’s heroics put Kolkata ahead
After securing an easy win against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Kolkata Knight Riders knew that a win against Rajasthan would secure their fourth position in the IPL table with 14 points.
Both the Knight Riders openers played with a lot of freedom. Shubman Gill continued his brilliant run of form with some sublime shot-making. On the other hand, Venkatesh Iyer also played the anchor role really well.
The opening partnership crossed the 50-run mark in the eighth over. Both the openers coasted along with their innings. At the halfway mark, the two-time champions were sitting at 69/0. Now as both of them were settled, they had to up the tempo of the innings. Gill tried to do exactly by hitting Rahul Tewatia for the maximum on the first ball of the 11th over.
The 2008 champions finally got their first wicket of the match as the leg spinner bowled Iyer in the same over. Nitish Rana came in as the replacement and he got into the action straight away by hitting Glen Phillips for a four and a six. However, his time at the crease was short-lived as the Kiwi got rid of him soon after.
Rahul Tripathi joined Gill at the crease and ensured that his team crossed the 100-run mark in the 13th over. On the other hand, the Kolkata opener continued to impress as he went into his 40s with a delightful drive off Mustafizur Rahman.
Tripathi accelerated as well with consecutive boundaries off Shivam Dube. The former Punjab Kings batsman reached his second consecutive IPL half-century after a splendid shot off Chetan Sakariya. Gill’s innings finally came to an end after he was removed by Chris Morris in the 16th over. The right-handed batsman scored 56 off 44 balls.
After hitting a few sensational boundaries, Tripathi also left the scene after being bowled by the left-arm fast bowler. Skipper, Eoin Morgan, came to the crease and tried to keep the momentum on his team’s side. Kolkata finished their innings with 171/4.
Mavi and Ferguson break the Rajasthan spine
Chasing such a huge target, it was important for the Men in Blue to do exactly what the Knight Riders openers did in their batting. However, their fate was completely different. The 2008 champions lost four of their top-order batsman in exactly four overs to be on the ropes straight away. After such huge mental and psychological damage to their run chase, there was no coming back for them.
Shakib Al Hasan, Lockie Ferguson and Shivam Mavi were fundamental in breaking the spine of Samson’s men. By the end of nine overs, Dube was the only batsman who had got into double figures. Most importantly, the Royals were already seven wickets down.
Mavi picked up his third wicket of the innings as he bowled Phillips. Varun Chakravarthy joined the party by getting the wicket of Morris. Tewatia tried to give the scoreboard a more respectable look by hitting a few boundaries.
Rajasthan lost their eighth wicket in the 12th over as Jaydev Unadkat was caught by Shakib off Ferguson. On the other hand, the left-hander continued to fight as he moved into the 40s with a delightful hit against the New Zealand fast bowler.
Sakarya was run out to become the ninth casualty for the 2008 champions. Soon after, Mavi bowled Tewatia as Rajasthan were bowled out for 85. He scored 44 consolation runs off 36 balls.
