Picture Courtesy : BCCI
It was a clinical performance by the Kolkata Knight Riders as they beat the home side Rajasthan Royals by 7 wickets at Jaipur. KKR kipper Dinesh Karthik won the toss and put the Royals into bat.
For the Royals skipper Ajinkya Rahane once again showed positive aggressive intent. Rahane gave the innings the early momentum He scored a fine 36 of 19 balls. Fellow opener D’Arcy Short (44 off 43) the openers shared a 54-run stand off 41 balls.
The trio of Piyush Chawla (1/18), Kuldeep Yadav (1/23) and part-timer Nitish Rana (2/11) conceded 52 runs in 10 overs, sharing four wickets amongst themselves.
KKR’s lead-spinner Sunil Narine had an off-day and gave away 48 runs in four overs, including four fours in one over hit by Rahane. Pacer Tom Curran (2/19) took wickets towards the end. Thus restricting the Royals to 160/8. Ben Stokes once again failed to deliver with the bat ( 14)
While chasing KKR never looked in trouble despite the early loss Chris Lynn for 0 and Sunil Narine later on run -out for 35. Robin Uthappa stroking 48 from 36 balls eased the pressure.
Skipper Dinesh Karthik smashed a quick-fire 42 not out from 23 balls, while Nitish Rana made 35 from 27 balls as the duo put on an unbroken stand of 61 from 38 balls for the fourth wicket. To power the side to a 7 wicket win in 18.5 overs.
It was a second good show by KKR after beat Delhi Daredevils in their previous match , who now have three wins from five games, while Royals have lost two games out of the four they have played.
