Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) faced Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the 54th match of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Sunday (November 1).
Asked to bat first, KKR piled up a massive 191/7 in 20 overs on the back of skipper Eoin Morgan’s brutal 35-ball 68* and notable contributions from Rahul Tripathi (39), Shubman Gill (34) and Andre Russell (25 off 11 balls).
Rahul Tewatia was the stand-out bowler for RR, claiming 3 wickets by conceding 25 runs in his four overs. Jofra Archer (1-19) also bowled economically and chipped in with a scalp.
Defending the total, Pat Cummins ran through Rajasthan’s top-order. The Aussie speedster dismissed Robin Uthappa (6), Ben Stokes (18) and Steve Smith (4) cheaply to reduce RR to 32/3.
Shivam Mavi got rid of Sanju Samson (1) while Riyan Parag (0) was Cummins’ fourth victim as Royals further slipped to 37/5 in 5 overs. Leg-spinner Varun Chakravarthy also played his part, removing the dangerous looking Jos Buttler and Rahul Tewatia for 35 and 31 respectively.
In the death overs, Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Shivam Mavi sent Jofra Archer and Kartik Tyagi packing as KKR eventually restricted RR to 131/9.
With this thumping 60-run victory, KKR leapfrogged to the fourth spot in the points table and kept their play-off hopes alive while Royals got knocked out of the tournament.
Cricket experts lauded the KKR bowlers for their remarkable display in a must-win game against the star-studded Rajasthan batting line-up.
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