IPL 2019: Match 43, KKR vs RR, Review – 17-year-old Riyan Parag shoves the hosts into troubled territories

The Kolkata Knight Riders have been pushed into further troubles as they have now lost six games in a row. A special effort from skipper Dinesh Karthik couldn’t get them over the line and they are now nearly out of the playoffs race. The game was snatched away from them by a 17-year-old Riyan Parag who put on display the composure of a saint.

Even though he was under pressure, Parag maintained his cool and did the majority of the job for his team. However, he was unfortunate to have got out hit wicket when his team was in reaching distance from the victory. Jofra Archer, though, didn’t let the efforts go in vain. He hit the winning runs for his team and ended his IPL stint this year on a high.

Skipper Dinesh Karthik plays one hell of a knock

The Kolkata Knight Riders have always struggled whenever they were put into bat first. This situation in this match seemed very similar. Varun Aaron, who made it back to the eleven, dismissed both the openers very early in the innings. While Chris Lynn got out for a duck, Shubman Gill was sent back after he piled up 14 runs. Nitish Rana also struggled and crawled his way to a 26-ball 21.

It didn’t seem as if the Knight would get to a big score. Sunil Narine, for the first time in his IPL career, batted at number five position. A terrible call from Karthik got him run out for 11 runs. However, the skipper made up for it with a sublime knock. He showed the intent and was going well. With Andre Russell at the other end, it seemed as the KKR would put on a mammoth total.

But despite getting two lives, the Jamaican only managed to score run-a-ball 14. At the end of 15 overs, KKR were at 100/4. But DK’s knock helped his team score 75 runs in the last five overs. The wicketkeeper-batsman scored an unbeaten 97 from 50 balls as his team finished with 175 runs on the board. He was unfortunate not to have got to his hundred and missed it by a whisker.

The Royals grapple in the chase

Except for their brief opening partnership, the Rajasthan Royals never got going in the chase. Ajinkya Rahane and Sanju Samson got the team off to a terrific start and added 53 runs together in 5.2 overs. But the latter was the first to walk back after scoring 22 runs as he tried playing a cheeky shot. Rahane and Smith followed him soon and scored 34 and 2 runs respectively. Ben Stokes failed in his final game of this season as well as he got just 2 runs.

With the top order capitulating early, it seemed RR was out of the race at the halfway mark itself. Howbeit, the 17-year-old Riyan Parag had other plans. He knew that the asking rate wasn’t high and paced his innings beautifully. The youngster remained calm and composed in the pressure situation and kept chipping in with regular boundaries. He got out hit wicket after scoring 47 runs. But most of the job was done by then. Jofra Archer added the finishing touches to help his team win the match by 3 wickets.

Brief Scores:

KKR: 175/6 in 20 overs (Dinesh Karthik 97*, Nitish Rana 21, Varun Aaron 2/20)

RR: 1/ in overs (Riyan Parag 47, Ajinkya Rahane 34, Piyush Chawla 3/20)

Result: Rajasthan Royals won the match by 3 wickets.

Man of the Match: Riyan Parag

Points Table:

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