KKR turns it around against RR

Mumbai: Kolkata Knight Riders defeated in-form Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets to snap their five-match losing streak in the Indian Premier League here on Monday.

KKR first restricted RR to 152 for five after opting to bowl and then chased down the target with five balls to spare to return to winning ways and heave a sigh of relief. Nitish Rana (48 not out) anchored the chase, while Rinku Singh played a 23- ball unbeaten 42-run cameo to help KKR overwhelm the target with consummate ease.

Aaron Finch’s poor run continued as he was cleaned up by Kuldeep Sen early on as KKR made a sedate start to their chase. KKR batters found the going tough on a slow paced Wankhede pitch, where shot-making wasn’t easy at all. Baba Indrajith (15) was bounced out by Prasidh Krishna soon but captain Shreyas Iyer (34 off 32) and Nitish Rana batted sensibly to help KKR reach fifty in nine overs.

It was Rana who finally managed to free his arms in the 11th over, and used the sweep and reverse sweep to great effect to hit R Ashwin for a 4-6-4 to pick up 16 runs. Iyer then clobbered Yuzvendra Chahal over wide long-on boundary to bring up the half-century stand for the third wicket with Rana. Just when it seemed Iyer was breaking loose, he edged a Trent Boult delivery to Samson behind the stumps in the next over. Iyer struck three boundaries and one six during his knock.

New man Singh marked his arrival at the crease with a boundary of the first ball. Needing 46 off 30 balls, Singh played the shot of the day, a paddle scoop to a 141 kmph Sen delivery on his legs high and mighty over the fine leg fence. Singh meant business as he found the fence at crucial junctures to first bring down the equation to 31 runs off 18 balls.

Samson’s decision to bring Chahal back into the attack in the 18th over backfired as Singh took his chances against the spinner and struck consecutive fours to make it 18 off the last 12 balls. Singh continued his onslaught against Prasidh, who conceded 17 runs in the penultimate over, which included two boundaries from the left-hander’s blade, as KKR wrapped up the match in style. Earlier, KKR restricted RR to a modest 152 for five, despite rival skipper Samson’s half-century. (PTI)