IPL 2018: Match 15, RR vs KKR – Most Valuable and Liable player of the game

Kolkata Knight Riders didn’t take long to bounce back after consecutive defeats to CSK and SRH as they moved to the top of the table with big wins against DD and RR. The wrist spinners in the first half and the young pacer in the death overs did the job for KKR restricted the home team to 160/8. Despite the loss of Chris Lynn in the first over, KKR managed to chase down the total with seven wickets and seven balls to spare. With this win, KKR became the first team to win 50 IPL games while chasing. They achieved this feat on the 10th anniversary of the first ever IPL game that witnessed massacre from KKR.

The young Nitish Rana’s all-round performance was crucial in bringing an end to Rajasthan Royals’ 9-match winning streak at their home venue in IPL. Rana  scored an unbeaten 35 with the bat and bagged wickets of well set RR openers. Rana turned out to be the MVP for KKR as his performances earned him a value of 64 lakhs according to CricTracker’s player value algorithm which is 2.64 times his average match salary for this season. Ben Laughlin was the liable player of the game as he valued only 2.5 lakhs.

Shubman Gill and Chris Lynn were on winning side despite valuing 0 from this game as the U19 star didn’t get a chance to bat while the Australian bagged his first duck in the IPL. Robin Uthappa’s breezy 48-run knock was valued at 53 lakhs while the KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik earned a value of 52.5 lakhs as per the CT’s player value algorithm. D’Arcy Short struggled to get going against the spinners but covered up a bit by scoring 44 that got him the highest value among RR players.

Tom Curran took two wickets in the penultimate over that were valued at 25.25 lakhs. His value is equivalent to 3.54 times his average match salary which is the highest ratio for any player in the game. Jaydev Unadkat turned out to be a disappointment failing to deliver a performance of his auction price.