Kolkata Knight Riders beat the high-profile Rajasthan Royals by seven snaps to record their five-game losing streak in the Indian Premier League this coming Monday. KKR first limited the RR to 152 for the year after picking the ball and then chased the target with five spare balls to return victorious and breathed a sigh of relief. Nitish Rana (48 did not come out) tried to give chase, while Rinku Singh smash 42 out 23 to help KKR overwhelm the target easily.
Aaron FinchThe bad run continues as he is cleaned up by Kuldeep Sen as soon as KKR started their chase.
KKR batters found it to be quite difficult on a slow-paced Wankhede pitch, where shooting was not easy at all.
Baba Indrajith (15) bounced by Prasidh Krishna early but captain Shreyas Iyer (34 off 32) and Nitish Rana hit the shuttlecock properly to help KKR reach fifty in nine rounds.
Rana was the last to be able to free her arm in round 11, and used the sweep and reverse sweep to great effect to beat R Ashwin 4-6-4 and take 16 runs.
Iyer then dressed Yuzvendra Chahal crossed the long-to-wide line to give a half-century status to a third racquet with Rana.
Just when it looked like Iyer was broken, he hit a Trent Boult deliver to Samson behind the next tree stump. Iyer hit three boundaries and a six on his stroke.
Newcomer Singh marked his arrival on the bend with a touchline beyond the first ball.
Needing 46 out of 30 balls, Singh played the shot of the day, a knock that allowed Kuldeep Sen to serve at 141 km/h on his feet high and mighty over a good footstool.
Singh means business as he finds hedges at the key pivot points to first bring down the equation 31 balloons out of 18 balls.
Samson’s decision to put Chahal back up front in the 18th game was counter-attacked as Singh took advantage of his opportunity with the spinner and hit four in a row to create a final 18-ball 12-ball.
Singh continued his ferocious attack against Prasidh, who conceded 17 times on the penultimate, including two run-ins from the left-hander’s tongue, as KKR ended the match in style.
Prior to that, KKR had limited the RR to a modest 152 for the year, despite captain Samson’s rivals half a century old.
For RR, 54 of Samson’s 49 balls were the only chance of a save, because of the steady slide hits.
KKR bowlers justifies captain Iyer’s decision to ask the opposition to hit the club first using a fast racket.
A late strike from Shimron Hetymar (27 not out of 13) sent Rajasthan past the 150-run mark.
RR lost opener Devdutt Padikkal (2) as cheap as pacer Umesh Yadav (1/24) won a return in the third inning.
Samson, who reached the seven boundaries and six, joined the form Jos Buttler (22 of 25 balls; 3x4s) and the duo managed to rally innings, sharing 48 runs for the second racket because KKR pitchers didn’t allow the RR hitter to go hands-free.
Samson crossed the line to get his first four points in the fourth inning as RR rose to 12 to one.
Samson and Buttler managed to break the shackles in the fifth inning, achieving 15 RR runs. The duo hit Umesh in three boundaries, with the captain hitting two of them.
Samson loft Anukul Roy (1/28) broke through the deep mantle for his first maximum as RR accumulated 11 runs in the sixth inning, scoring 38 runs in power-play. Captain RR then cut Sunil Narine (0/19) for another boundary.
But RR slipped to 55 for two after pacer Tim Southee (2/46) removed a rusty-looking Buttler who was captured by Shivam Mavi Castle.
Samson continuously attacked on two fronts before Mavi (1/33) but did not have a partner. He can only add 35 runs with Karun Nair (13) and 25 with Ryan Parag (19).
Karun (13), Parag (19) and Samson quickly fell as RR dropped to 115 for five from 90 for three.
While Nair became the sole victim of Roy’s left-hander, Parag was captured by Roy in a mid-range match off Southee.
Promote
Samson, in an attempt to score quickly, gave a skier to Singh in the deep middle.
Hetymer and Ashwin (6 not out) added 37 unbeaten runs in 18 balls to push RR’s total runs past the 150 mark.
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