IPL 2020: KKR Keep Playoff Hopes Alive, Beat Rajasthan By 60 Runs

Dubai: Rajasthan Royals (RR) chasing the winning target of 192 runs against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) lost the 54th match of 2020 Indian Premier League (IPL) by 60 runs at the Dubai International Stadium. The win for Kolkata side means that they are still alive in the race to the playoffs as they now pin their hopes on Sunrisers Hyderabad to lose its last match.

RR openers Ben Stokes and Robin Uthappa had a good start with boundaries in the first over. However, RR got a big jolt with dismissal of Uthappa in the last ball of the over. Uthappa had hit only a six and was back to hut. Pat Cummins dismissed him.

RR received another big blow in the 3rd over with the departure of Stokes. Stokes scored 18 runs off 10 deliveries and again it was Cummins.

Cummins struck RR for the 3rd time in the same over dismissing skipper Steven Smith. Smith scored only 4 runs.

Following Cummins, Shivam Mavi took KKR's 4th wicket in the 4th over. Sanju Samson departed scoring only one run.

Later, in the 5th over, Cummins dismissed Riyan Parag who couldn't score a single run.

By the end of the powerplay, RR had lost 5 wickets while the team's score stood at 41 runs.

In the next big jolt to RR, Jos Buttler dismissed at 35 in the 11th over. Varun Chakravarthy took the big wicket while KKR was at 80.

Varun again struck in the 15th over dismissing Tewatia. Tewatia scored 31 runs while the team's score was 105.

Next it was Jofra Archer who departed scoring 6 runs. Kamlesh Nagarkoti dismissed him in the 18th over. Following the dismissal, Kartik Tyagi departed in the 19th over scoring only 2 runs.

In the big race, KKR won the match by 60 runs.

Earlier, KKR captain Eoin Morgan came to the party with a blistering 68 off 35 balls to lead his team to 191/7.

Momentum shifted both ways at various points of the innings with KKR getting off to a strong start, despite losing Nitish Rana off the second ball. Rahul Tripathi and Shubman Gill put up a partnership of 72 runs between them before the latter fell to Rahul Tewatia.

KKR then lost Sunil Narine, Tripathi and Dinesh Karthik in quick succession. Andre Russell and Morgan then tried shifting the momentum their team's way. While the former succumbed to Kartik Tyagi, Morgan soldiered on and smashed his England team mate Ben Stokes to all corners of the park in the 19th over.

Pat Cummins first hit a six off the second ball of the over after which he brought Morgan on strike with a single. Morgan then hit consecutive sixes and a four as KKR took a total of 24 runs from that over. Morgan hit a six off the last ball of the innings to take KKR beyond 190.

Earlier, RR won the toss and chose to bowl against KKR.

Team:

Kolkata Knight Riders: Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Sunil Narine, Eoin Morgan (captain), Dinesh Karthik (wicketkeeper), Andre Russell, Rahul Tripathi, Pat Cummins, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy

Rajasthan Royals: Robin Uthappa, Ben Stokes, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper), Steven Smith (captain), Jos Buttler, Riyan Parag, Rahul Tewatia, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Varun Aaron, Kartik Tyagi

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IPL 2020: KKR Score 191/7 Against RR, Morgan Remains Unbeaten At 68