Rajasthan Royals crashed out of the IPL 2018, after the 25-run loss in the Eliminator against the Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens on Wednesday.
Kolkata Knight Riders brought a match back from the dead in the late hours of the innings, after mostly being on the backfoot throughout the match.
Rajasthan Royals were in the driver’s seat while chasing a target of 170 in the capable hands of captain Ajinkya Rahane and Sanju Samson. Requiring 74 from 48, with 9 wickets in hand, all hell broke loose when KKR’s chinaman Kuldeep Yadav packed off Rahane (46) in the 15th over. Lacking the craft of Jos Buttler and the big-hitting of Ben Stokes, the thin Rajasthan middle order crumbled under tremendous pressure by KKR’s death bowlers.
The last 5 overs only yielded 33 runs for the Royals whereas KKR managed to take crucial wickets of Sanju Samson and Stuart Binny.
Earlier, KKR rode on Karthik's well-paced fifty coupled with Russell's unbeaten 25-ball 49 blitz to recover from an early collapse. Royals' bowlers had made early inroads to reduce KKR to 51/4 after eight overs.
Russell came in to bat when KKR were moving towards a big total through Karthik and Shubman Gill’s (28) stand before the latter fell with the team on 106/5 in 14.2 overs
The big-hitting West Indian smoked five sixes and three fours in the last five overs to help the purple brigade post a challenging score.
The win in Knight Riders’ home ground takes them head-to-head against the Sunrisers Hyderabad who have suffered a loss of form in the later stages of the tournament.
This win in the Eliminators would boost the confidence of the Knight Riders who go up against Williamson and company on Friday in their favoured fortress of Eden Gardens.
(With inputs from IANS)
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