An exhibition of power-hitting from Yashasvi Jaiswal powered Rajasthan Royals (RR) to crush Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 9 wickets at the Eden Gardens. Chasing an average 150, Jaiswal played a brutal knock of unbeaten 98 off 47 balls, hitting the fastest ever IPL fifty in just 13 balls. RR skipper Sanju Samson also played a fine knock of unbeaten 48 off 29 to finish off the match in just 13.1 overs. Yuzvendra Chahal’s four-wicket haul was completely overshadowed by Jaiswal’s batting masterclass, who hammered 12 fours and 5 sixes.

Earlier, Trent Boult gave an excellent start to RR, dismissing dangerous Jason Roy (10) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (18) in his successive overs. Looking to the steady KKR’s innings, Venkatesh Iyer and captain Nitish Rana added 48 runs for the third wicket before Chahal initiated the collapse by dismissing Rana (22). KM Asif then bagged hard-hitter Andre Russell for just 10.

Chahal struck twice in the 17^th over, scalping Iyer who top-scored with a brilliant knock of 57, and then trapped Shardul Thakur (1) LBW to put the hosts under great pressure. Chahal’s last prey was Rinku Singh who chipped in with 16. Chahal’s brilliance with the ball restricted KKR to 149/8 in 20 overs.

RR’s chase got off to a terrific start as Jaiswal smashed 26 runs off the very first over and he never looked back after that. Jos Butler went back for a duck as Russell produced a direct hit when there was a mix-up in the middle. Samson then joined the party, stitching a fantastic partnership of 121 off 69 balls with Jaiswal to clinch victory. With a dominating win, RR moved to third place in the table.