RR defeated KKR by 7 runs in a high-scoring thriller.
On Monday (April 18), the Rajasthan Royals took on the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the Indian Premier League (IPL) match number 30 at the Brabourne Stadium. The Kolkata team won the toss and chose to bowl first, as has been the case with every side in this year's IPL.
On the back of Jos Buttler's second century of the season (103 off 61 balls), RR piled up a massive total of 217/5 in their 20 overs. The chasing team lost Sunil Narine’s wicket in the opening over of the innings. However, Aaron Finch's blistering batting (58 off 28 balls) and skipper Shreyas Iyer's high-class innings (85 off 51 balls) not only helped the team stay afloat but also put them in a very good position.
Just then, Yuzvendra Chahal who had taken one wicket came in to bowl the last over of his spell. By the end of it, the leg-spinner had taken 4 wickets which included a hat-trick. The match was effectively taken away from the two-time champions after that over. KKR fell 7 runs short of the target. The leggie finished with match-winning figures of 5/40 in his 4 overs.
SEE ALSO: “I had to take wickets to change the result”: Yuzvendra Chahal on his fifer against KKR
Ashwin, the Royals' off-spinner, recently revealed a hilarious incident on his youtube channel from the game that occurred during the final overs of the first innings.
“Everybody was laughing while we were batting. Sanga (Kumar Sangakkara) was laughing, and so were others. Except for a group, say a squad of four or five members was totally serious. And those were me, Saini, Chahal, Prasidh Krishna, & Boult because we were going to bat next right? Saini did not play yesterday (in the game against KKR). Also, McCoy seems to be a silent type. And we were watching the match and then something happened like how it happens in Tamil cinema."
"Saini casually started like, "Bhaiya... what do you think are the safe total runs that should be on the board?" I was looking at the total & replied back to him that they are playing well... So 230 runs should be safe for us. And Prasidh Krishna was like, "do you really think 230 is enough?"
“He (Prasidh) will speak both in Tamil and Kannada at times and I was like, dude 230 is really enough. Suddenly Saini seemed to be very silent like in a graveyard. He kept watching the match but it looked like he was not having any emotions on his face. And I said to him, you asked me a question and now, you are quiet. He said, “Bhaiya, I was having a deep contemplation and I think 300 runs should really be enough".
“He made us all burst into laughter even though it was a very tense situation. It was really good. After the match, we were going back to our dressing room. Kuldeep Sen was very happy. Saini came to me and said, this is why I was saying to you that 300 would have been the safest total. I was having a conversation with the Team management, Rajamani and all said that we were short of 10-15 runs. And Saini was like, Bhaiya, I already told you right. We were actually short of 80 runs,” Ashwin said.
The inaugural IPL champions will next take on the Delhi Capitals on Friday (April 22) at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai.
(HT INPUTS)