Kolkata Knight Riders won the match by 6 wickets against the Rajasthan Royals at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. Kuldeep Yadav was awarded the Man of the Match for his match-winning four-fer that totally miffed away Rajasthan Royals to a very inconsiderable total of 142. Team Circle of Cricket gets down to list the 5 talking points of the match.
Fantastic start by Rajasthan Royals openers
Rajasthan Royals had a very wonderful start to their innings. Openers Jos Buttler and Tripathi started off in a blazing way to score quick boundaries in the powerplay. Like always, Jos Buttler was on top of the bowlers taking the aerial route to cross the ball over the fence.
Tripathi and Buttler got Rajasthan off to a flier, with a 63-run stand for the opening wicket in quick time, they had put Rajasthan in the driver's seat. Rajasthan Royals dealt in boundaries and sixes only, as Prasidh Krishna and Shivam Mavi took the brunt at the Eden Gardens.
Kuldeep wrecks through RR's batting line-up
After the 63-run stand between Jos Buttler and Tripathi, it looked like Rajasthan are going to handle the home team a huge target but Kuldeep Yadav, the china-man of Kolkata made it uneasy for the visitors camp after taking two quick wickets for his team.
Kuldeep Yadav had a wonderful evening at the Eden as he took 4 wickets in his 4 overs spell that totally bounded Rajasthan to an unexpected total at the end of the first innings. He finished with 4 for 20 his best IPL figures.
Stokes takes 3 for 15 in his last match for the Royals
Defending a low target, RR bowlers had to produce something different. Ben Stokes came up with taking 3 wickets for 15 runs in his last game for Rajasthan Royals as the latter had to go back to England for playing 2 test matches against Pakistan line-up on 24th May and 1st June.
This was one of his convincing bowling performances in IPL 2018 as the left-arm all-rounder had a silent VIVO IPL 2018 with the bat he was bought by Rajasthan for a huge amount of INR 12.5 Crores.
Lynn-Karthik guide KKR home
Chris Lynn played a very responsible innings taking Kolkata inch closer to a yet another win and Dinesh Karthik played a captain's role picking two crucial points for his team. Lynn batted sensibly for his knock and Karthik had to finish off the game with a six. It was totally a delight to watch Karthik concluding the match for Kolkata after winning the match by 6 wickets.
KKR inch closer to the playoffs
Kolkata Knight Riders won the game by 6 wickets after beating Rajasthan Royals at home. The bowlers, DK and Chris Lynn took their team home after a convincing and strong win over the Royals.
142 was never going to threaten, surely not on a small ground, surely not with dew setting in, surely not when the Royals bowling has lacked teeth and surely not when the opposition ranks have batsmen in such form. Stokes did pull things back at the start after the first over the carnage, Sodhi did do it in the middle overs, but a boundary an over elsewhere was never going to help their cause. Meanwhile, Lynn anchored well, the others played around and Karthik, who's made it a habit, finished in style.
