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Toss won by Kolkata Knight Riders (decided to bowl) Rahane has noticed that KKR are having a hard time picking the guile of Ish Sodhi who has been training hard with Shane Warne. The Kiwi spinner who has just completed a very economical third over gave away only three singles to the batting duo. KKR after the 11th over are 83/3 and even though they are building a partnership, the Royals are on top and have the momentum going into the business end of this innings.
KKR are looking to build the momentum in the chase slowly as they do not want to be setback by giving away more wickets to the Royals. Dinesh Karthik and Chris Lynn are not taking any risks and are waiting for the bad ball in the over to smash it away for a boundary. The 10th over got them 7 runs and KKR are 80/3.
Another tight over from Ish Sodhi who also gets his first wicket of the match as he dismissed Nitish Rana. That brought the captain Dinesh Karthik to the crease and as expected both he and Lynn are taking a safety first approach. Did not go after the spinner and kept a cool head to take five runs in the over. KKR after 9 overs are 73/3
Good over for KKR, but Gowtham would have been just happy to not have to bowl to Sunil Narine. Five runs and big six later Gowtham's over is done after he gave away 11 runs to the KKR batsmen. KKR are 68/2 after 8 overs and are slowly rebuilding in their chase of 143. Not the biggest target mind you.
Things have slowed down considerably in terms of the chase from the point of view of the KKR with the big hitting Chris Lynn finding it hard to get the ball away. Both Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer have been economical in their overs through the power play. Rana and Lynn share four singles and get a wide to from Stokes in his third over to make the 6th over a 5 run over. Ben Stokes who bowled the first maiden for an RR bowler in this season has now bowled 10 dot balls. KKR are 51/2 after 6.
End of the fifth over the innings and Jofra Archer bowls another economical one. Nitish Rana square-cut almost had him caught at point but thankfully for KKR that went to the boundary which helped make it a six run over for the hosts who are suddenly under pressure after the early blows. KKR are 46/2 after 5 overs.
End of the fourth over, and Ben Stokes is doing exactly what his captain Ajinkya Rahane would have wanted, getting him early wickets. Yet another wicket in the over, but it is not a maiden as a boundary and four runs are taken of him. KKR are 40/2 at the end of the over with Nitish Rana and Chris Lynn at the crease.
End of the third over which was bowled by Jofra Archer. The pacer started well as he kept Robin Uthappa, the new batsman, silent, but once Chris Lynn came on strike he took advantage of the bad balls and made it count for 10 with a maximum and a boundary. The over went for 11 runs and KKR are 32/1 after 3.
End of the first over from K Gowtham and generally one sees batsmen go easy in the first over, but Sunil Narine is not following any of that. After the first ball six, he followed it up with a boundary, a second six and then another boundary before giving the strike to Chris Lynn who saw out the last ball of the over without much ado. KKR are 21/0 after 1 over.
WICKET!! Prasidh gets his man with the change of pace as Rajasthan Royals are bowled out for 142 at the Eden Gardens as Unadkat goes for 26. That cleaned the pacer all ends up as Kolkata Knight Riders will now feel confident of sealing the game here. Prasidh gets two wickets at the back end of the innings.
WICKET!!! Prasidh gets his man here with a quality delivery and Ish Sodhi has to go here as the score reads 128/8 in the 17th over as Rajasthan have their work cut out here. Kolkata will now look to go for the kill and finish the innings in a hurry. This is their opportunity to seal the knockout spot.
10 runs from the Narine over as Ish Sodhi and Jaydev Unadkat are looking to make this count and stretch the innings to as far as they can. The score reads 128/7 after 16 overs as the umpires call for the second strategic break here. This is clearly now Kolkata's game and they just need to stick to the basics.
WICKET!! Bowls this one at good pace and Gowtham can only manage to glove that to the keeper as Dinesh Karthik completes a regulation catch behind the wicket. The score reads 103/6 as the Kolkata Knight Riders bowlers are definitely on top here. The Rajasthan batsmen have lost the plot here.
WICKET!!! Kuldeep on a roll here as he gets his third as Stuart Binny is smartly stumped by Dinesh Karthik for just 1 as the score reads 96/5. The fans at the Eden Gardens are ecstatic. Kuldeep is loving this as the Rajasthan batting is now looking on the backfoot after starting well in the initial stages.
WICKET!!! The DRS comes to the rescue for Kolkata Knight Riders as Samson heads back to the dugout, given out LBW by the third umpire after Narine and DK go for a review. That looked a bit high to start with, but replays showed that there was not much height on the ball as it hit the back pad. Samson goes for 12 as the score reads 95/4 in the 11th over.
WICKET!!! The break has done it again as a reverse sweep from Buttler goes straight to Mavi and the batsman has to head back to the dugout for just 39. The Kolkata players are ecstatic as he was the key man for the Rajasthan batting here and the score reads 85/3 in the 10th over. The extra pace did the trick for Kuldeep.
Prasidh goes for runs again as Samson is looking in fine flow over here and guides the pacer to the third-man boundary as the Rajasthan batsmen are looking really comfortable in the middle. Just 6 from the over though as the umpires call for a strategic break. The score reads 85/2 after 9 overs.
Rajasthan Royals celebrate. (BCCI Image)
| Team | Mat | Won | Lost | Tied | NR | Pts | NRR |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SRH | 12 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 18 | +0.400 |
| CSK | 12 | 8 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 16 | +0.383 |
| KKR | 12 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 12 | -0.189 |
| RR | 12 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 12 | -0.347 |
| KXIP | 12 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 12 | -0.518 |
| MI | 12 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 10 | +0.405 |
| RCB | 12 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 10 | +0.218 |
| DD | 12 | 3 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 6 | -0.478 |
| Rank | Team | Points | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | India | 3499 | 125 |
| 2 | South Africa | 3589 | 112 |
| 3 | Australia | 3499 | 106 |
| 4 | New Zealand | 2354 | 102 |
| 5 | England | 3511 | 98 |
| FULL Ranking | |||
