IPL 2019: Match 43, Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals – Statistical Highlights

Rajasthan Royals finally ended their Eden Gardens spell defeating the Kolkata Knight Riders by three wickets on Thursday. The struggling KKR team got off to a poor start scoring only 49/3 after ten overs due to some brilliant piece of bowling from Varun Aaron. However, skipper Dinesh Karthik powered the team to 175/6 scoring an unbeaten 97 from only 50 deliveries. The KKR spinners kept striking in the middle-overs but short partnerships took the Royals over the finishing line.

All the major stats and numbers recorded during KKR’s 6th successive defeat of this season:

A win after a decade for Royals:

2 – Only the second time the Rajasthan Royals have won an IPL game at the Eden Gardens. Their last win at this venue came against the hosts was by six wickets in the 2008 season. The Royals featured in seven IPL matches between 2010 and 2018 at this venue (6 vs KKR and 1 vs MI) and lost in all of them.

KKR’s losing streak continues:

4 – The Kolkata Knight Riders have lost each of their last four IPL matches at the Eden Gardens. They never lost more than two in a succession at this venue prior to this season. KKR lost to DC, CSK and RR while defending a total and by a 10-run margin against RCB.

6 – The Knight Riders lost each of their previous six matches in this IPL; their 2nd longest losing streak. KKR lost eight successive matches during the 2009 season where they ended up with the wooden spoon.

A record knock from Karthik:

97* – The unbeaten 97 from Dinesh Karthik is his highest individual score in the Twenty20 format and also the 2nd highest individual score for a KKR player in the IPL. Brendon McCullum’s 158* against RCB during the inaugural IPL game in 2008 is still the only IPL century by a KKR batsman.

97* – Karthik’s unbeaten 97-run knock is also the highest individual score as captain for KKR in the IPL and also the highest IPL score in a defeat for the KKR team. Gautam Gambhir’s 93 against RCB in the 2012 season was the previous highest score by a KKR skipper while MS Bisla’s 92 from the 2013 season against CSK was the previous highest IPL innings for KKR in a defeat.

2 – Karthik’s score of 97* is also the 2nd highest individual score by a keeper-captain in the IPL. Adam Gilchrist scored 106 for Kings XI Punjab during the 2011 season against RCB.

Smith @ 2000:

2000 – Steve Smith completed 2000 runs in the IPL with the two runs he scored in this game. He is overall the 31st player and only the 12th overseas to aggregate 2000 runs in the IPL. Five out of the 12 overseas players with 2000+ IPL runs are from Australia including Smith.

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