Kolkata: Despite a brilliant effort by skipper Riyan Parag, including 6 consecutive sixes, the Rajasthan Royals lost to the Kolkata Knight Riders by 1 run at the Eden Gardens on Sunday.
Chasing 207, RR lost wickets early before Parag took charge and scored 95 off 45. This included 6 consecutive sixes off the bowling of Moeen Ali and Varun Chakaravarthy.
Shubham Dubey then attempted to finish the chase, but the total proved to be too much for Rajasthan.
Varun Chakaravarthy was the pick of the bowlers, picking 2/32 in his 4 overs.
Opening the innings, Sunil Narine and Rahmanullah Gurbaz came out to bat. The hosts got off to a subpar start as Narine departed for just 11 runs. Rahmanullah Gurbaz added 35 runs to the board. Ahinkya Rahane and Angkrish Raghuvanshi built a solid partnership as well, scoring 30 and 44 runs, respectively.
Furthermore, Andre Russell put in an excellent performance as well, scoring 57* runs in 25 deliveries. As for Rajasthan, Jofra Archer, Yudhvir Singh, Maheesh Theekshana, and Riyan Parag were the wicket takers with one wicket each to their names.
Aiming to chase down the target, Rajasthan Royals got off to a horrid start as Vaibhav Suryavanshi departed on a score of four runs. Furthermore, things went from bad to worse as Dhruv Jurel was sent packing by Varun Chakaravarthy on a golden duck.
However, after the two early wickets, Yashasvi Jaiswal and Riyan Parag kept the hopes alive for the Royals. Jaiswal scored 34 runs in 21 deliveries, whereas Parag kept the fight going, scoring 95 runs in 45 deliveries.
Furthermore, Shirmron Hemyer added 29 runs in 23 deliveries, but the remaining batters failed to make an impact. Wanindu Hasaranga departed on a duck as well.
In the end, Kolkata Knight Riders managed to defend the total and defeated Rajasthan Royals by one run. Kolkata Knight Riders have kept their hopes alive for playoff qualifications. KKR won the game by one run as Jofra Archer was run out on the final delivery. Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana, and Moeen Ali were the highest wicket takers for the hosts, taking two wickets each. Vaibhav Arora took one wicket as well.
