IPL 2018: Match 15, RR vs KKR, Review - Impressive Knight Riders trump the hosts by 7 wickets

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have managed to breach the fortress of Rajasthan Royals (RR) as they chased down the total of 161 with 7 wickets in hand. After some intelligent bowling, it was the aggression from Robin Uthappa and some sensible cricket from Nitish Rana which helped them break the 9-match winning streak of the hosts at the venue. However, Royals never arrived on the day as they looked down and out before their batting had posted somewhat a middling total.

The visiting skipper Dinesh Karthik won the toss and opted to field first with a hope that the batting conditions will only get better in the second innings. Both the teams were coming off an impressive win from their previous outings and didn’t bother changing their playing XI for this game.

Rahane gets off to a flyer

The openers Ajinkya Rahane and D’Arcy Short were surprised by the introduction of wrist spin from both the ends with the new ball. They found it tough to play their shots as the ball skidded on consistently and could only add 9 runs in the first 3 overs. But Sunil Narine faced the heat in the very next over as the skipper decided to take charge against the best bowler of the opposition. He stepped out of the crease, moved and shuffled across nicely and slammed him for 4 consecutive fours which got the momentum going for them.

But he fell soon after the powerplay courtesy some brilliant presence of mind from Karthik. Meanwhile, D’Arcy Short was bogged down facing difficulties against the spinners. The hero of the last match, Sanju Samson endured a poor outing as he was caught in the deep off the bowling of Shivam Mavi. The promotion of Rahul Tripathi ahead of Ben Stokes also didn’t work as the wickets kept on falling.

Rana surprise for RR

Nitish Rana once again turned out to be a lucky charm for KKR as he scalped the key wickets of Rahane and Short. Short, however, managed to up the ante in between and smacked a few fours and sixes. But he was castled by Rana and the run-rate never went up for the home side. While Stokes and Jos Buttler tried their best to get some runs in the death overs but the bowling was of high class as they could post 160 runs for the loss of 8 wickets after 20 overs.

Uthappa and Narine counter-attack

Royals got off to a dream start while defending the total as Krishnappa Gowtham as disturbed the stumps of Chris Lynn who bagged a two-ball duck. But then the introduction of Robin Uthappa changed things dramatically. He attacked the bowlers from the word go even as his partner Narine got his eye in and started playing his shots. Uthappa favoured legside a lot as he cashed in on anything short from the bowlers.

The quick-fire partnership between the two took KKR ahead in the game as the Royals lapsed in the field. There were misfields and missed run-out chances as well. Meanwhile, Narine ran himself out harmlessly when there was no need to take a risky run. Uthappa had got himself set for a half-century but then was undone by some superb acrobatic fielding by Stokes at long on. He timed his jump perfectly and then parried the ball over before losing his balance only to come back and take the catch.

Rana and Karthik complete the proceedings

Uthappa’s wicket gave Royals the belief to come back in the game as they squeezed runs dramatically to bring the equation down to 36 off 24 deliveries. But Jaydev Unadkat‘s poor run of form in the tournament continued as he leaked 17 runs in the 17th over as both batsmen smacked him for a maximum. Both played patiently then to seal the game for their side and gunned down the total in the 19th over comfortably.

The win now has taken the Knight Riders to the top of the table and they would love to stay their for a long time now.

Chopra opines on Uthappa’s T20 career

Always rated Robin Uthappa highly in the shortest format…perhaps, should’ve played for India a little more in T20s. #RRvKKR #IPL

— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash) April 18, 2018

Brief Scores

Rajasthan Royals 160/8 after 20 overs (D Short 44, A Rahane 36; N Rana 2/11, T Curran 2/19)

Kolkata Knight Riders 163/3 after 18.5 overs (R Uthappa 48, D Karthik 42*, N Rana 35*; K Gowtham 2/23)

Result: Kolkata Knight Riders won by 7 wickets

Man of the Match: Nitish Rana

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