An outstanding effort from all the bowlers has given Kolkata Knight Riders its second victory of the season. They beat Rajasthan Royals by 37 runs. Pat Cummins (1/13), Kamlesh Nagarkoti (2/13), Shivam Mavi (2/20) and Varun Chakravarthy (2/25) gave scintillating performances for their team. The opponents were clueless while batting against these bowlers. Coming to the batting front, it was Shubman Gill (47) and Eoin Morgan (34*), who shined for KKR.
Rajasthan’s skipper Steve Smith chose to bowl after winning the toss. KKR seemed to be happy with the decision as they started off the batting pretty well. Sunil Narine once again failed to perform and fell in the 5th over. But another opener Shubman Gill continued his supreme form. He got good support from Nitish Rana. Both of them gave a 46-run stand for their team. In the 10th over, Rahul Tewatia dismissed Rana. Within a couple of overs, Dinesh Karthik was dismissed by Jofra Archer. After that KKR started losing wickets at regular intervals. While Gill fell in the 14th over, Russel went back in the 15th over. In the end, they have managed to score 174/6, with the help of a sensible game from Eoin Morgan.
Considering Rajasthan’s form, it was not a big total for them. However, they threw away wickets in the early stages which had cost them the game. Pat Cummins sent back Steve Smith in the second over. Young bowler Shivam Mavi took care of dismissing Sanju Samson and Jos Buttler. Another Indian quickie Kamlesh Nagarkoti scalped Robin Uthappa and Riyan Parag in one over. At one stage, RR made a score of 43/5 in 8 overs. Last match’s hero Rahul Tewatia also went out for a low score. Only Tom Curran shined for them by scoring 54 runs. RR ended its innings with a score of 137/9.
Scorecard:
Kolkata Knight Riders: 174/6 (S Gill 47, E Morgan 34*, J Archer 2/18)
Rajasthan Royals: 137/9 (T Curran 54*, J Buttler 21, S Mavi 2/20)