IPL 2019: Twitter reacts as Riyan Parag’s stellar knock powers RR to three-wicket win over KKR

RR chased down KKR's challenging target of 176 with four balls to spare.

Riyan Parag | IANS

Kolkata Knight Riders hosted Rajasthan Royals in the 43rd match of IPL 2019 at the Eden Gardens on Thursday (April 25).

After being put into bat, KKR rode on skipper Dinesh Karthik’s unbeaten 97 off 50 balls (7 fours and 9 sixes) to post 175/6 on the board. Barring Karthik, none of the Kolkata batsmen managed to cross the 25-run mark. For RR, Varun Aaron was the stand-out bowler, claiming 2/20 in his 4 overs. Oshane Thomas, Shreyas Gopal and Jaydev Unadkat also chipped in with wicket apiece.

In reply, Rajasthan got off to a flier with Ajinkya Rahane and Sanju Samson adding 53 runs for the opening wicket in just 5 overs. Rahane (34 off 21 balls) was looking set for a big one before Sunil Narine trapped him plumb in front in the 6th over. In the next two overs, Piyush Chawla and Narine castled Samson (22) and captain Steve Smith (2) to reduce RR to 63/3.

Afterwards, things went downhill for the Royals. Ben Stokes (11) and Stuart Binny (11) became Chawla’s second and third victims. Needing 78 off 45 balls, the pair of Riyan Parag and Shreyas Gopal put on 25 runs for the sixth wicket to give the visiting team some hope. Prasidh Krishna got rid of the dangerous looking Gopal on 18 off 9 balls.

With 53 runs needed from 28 balls, Jofra Archer joined Parag at the crease and the duo turned the match on its head. Archer dominated the 17th over and smashed Narine for 15 runs while Parag took charge in the 18th over and thrashed Prasidh for 13 runs. All of a sudden the equation change as Rajasthan required 18 runs from the last two overs. Parag and Jofra accumulated 9 runs from the first four deliveries of the penultimate over before Russell removed the former in the fifth delivery.

Riyan Parag got out on 31-ball 47 with RR still needing 9 runs from 7 deliveries. Oozing with confidence, Archer smoked Prasidh Krishna for a boundary and a six to guide Rajasthan Royals over the line with three wickets and four balls to spare.

Cricket experts were on Twitter were left speechless by Parag and Archer's composed knocks under immense pressure.

Check out some of the reactions:

 

 
 

By Salman Anjum - 25 Apr, 2019

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