Kolkata Knight Riders returned to winning ways by beating Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets. Chasing a target of 153 runs, KKR reached 158/3 with five balls to spare. Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh proved to be destructive batters on the field and helped KKR to end their losing streak. Rana smacked an unbeaten 48 while Rinku hammered 42 runs off 23 deliveries. RR bowlers failed to take wickets to stay in the contest.
After opting to bowl first, Umesh Yadav gave KKR a good start by dismissing Devdutt Padikkal for just 2. Umesh took a great reflex catch on his bowling to dismiss the opener. Jos Butler and RR skipper Sanju Samson looked to steady their ship by adding 48-runs before Tim Southee bagged the in-form Butler for 22.
KKR bowlers bowled good lines and lengths to keep the dangerous RR batting lineup relatively silent. Samson went back after scoring a fighting half-century. Shimron Hetmyer played a cameo of 27-runs towards the end and helped RR to reach a respectable total of152/5 in 20 overs.
In response, KKR sent out Aaron Finch (4) and Baba Indrajith (15) as their latest opening combination. But it did not work well as both batters fell early. However, skipper Shreyas Iyer and Nitish Rahan added 60-runs to keep the chase in the hunt.
Though the pair started slow, they picked up pace after the 10th over. When Iyer departed Rinku came in and took complete control of the chase. Rana ended up the game with a brilliant six. RR slumped to their second defeat in a row.
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