Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) locked horns in the 54th match of IPL 2021 at Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday (October 7).
Invited to bat first, KKR posted 171/4 in their allotted 20 overs on the back of Shubman Gill’s 44-ball 56. Venkatesh Iyer also made a notable contribution of 35-ball 38.
For RR, left-arm pacer Chetan Sakariya returned with impressive figures of 1 for 23 in his stipulated four overs.
In reply, the Royals had a nightmare with the bat as they were reduced to 35/7 after 9 overs. Shivam Mavi and Lockie Ferguson did the bulk of the damage with the ball, taking seven wickets between them while Varun Chakravarthy (1-14) bowled an economical spell.
Although Rahul Tewatia provided some resistance to RR’s innings with a 44-run knock, it wasn’t really good enough as KKR eventually bowled them out for a paltry 85 in 16.1 overs to register a thumping 86-run victory.
With this victory, Knight Riders almost became the fourth team after CSK, DC and RCB to book their place in the IPL 2021 playoffs.
Cricket experts lauded Eoin Morgan and company for their flawless outing in an all-important fixture.
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