The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) cruised to a solid seven-wicket win over the Rajasthan Royals in an entertaining Tata IPL clash at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Monday evening to end a five-match losing streak.
KKR managed to chase down their target of 153 to win with five balls remaining, after an impressive unbeaten 66-run fourth-wicket partnership off just 38 balls between Rinku Singh and Nitish Rana.
Singh smashed 42 runs off just 23 balls, slamming six fours and a six, while Rana clubbed three fours and two sixes on his way to 48 off 37 balls.
The KKR innings started similar to the Royals, with a slow start seeing them on 32 for two at the end of the powerplay, after opener Aaron Finch (4) inside edged Kuldeep Sen onto his own stumps and Baba Indrajith was caught by Ravichandran Ashwin off the bowling of Prasidh Krishna.
Shreyas Iyer (34) and Rana then shared in a very important third-wicket stand of 60 runs off 7.1 overs to bat their side into a strong position.
After reaching the halfway mark behind the rate on 59 for two, Rana decided to unleash and targeted Ashwin, smashing him for two reverse-swept fours either side of a swept six as the 11th over went for 16 runs.
Just as Iyer looked to be getting into his stride, having struck Yuzvendra Chahal for a nice six in the 12th over, he looked to pull a short Trent Boult delivery down the leg side at the end of the 13th over, but only feathered an easy catch to Sanju Samson behind the stumps, with the score 92 for three.
That was however the last bit of success for the Royals as Singh arrived at the crease and proceeded to dominate his partnership with Rana.
Despite Rana being the set batsman, Singh took charge of the chase in the closing overs, powering boundaries all around the ground, drawing the scores level at the end of the 19th over, which allowed Rana to close out the match with a big six with the first ball of the last over.
SAMSON AND HETMEYER STAR FOR ROYALS
At the start of the match KKR won the toss and sent the Royals in to bat, with a half century from Samson and a finishing flourish from Shimron Hetmeyer helping them score 152 for five in their 20 overs.
Samson managed a slower than usual 54 off 49 balls (7×4; 1×6), while Hetmeyer plundered an unbeaten 27 off just 13 deliveries, hitting one four and two sixes to get his side to a defendable score.
The Royals’ innings got off to a very slow start, with opener Devdutt Padikkal (2) caught and bowled by Umesh Yadav in the third over, before they reached 12 for one after four overs.
The final two overs of the powerplay went for 26, led by some big hitting from Samson, getting them to 38 for one after six overs.
The middle overs were then very slow as the Royals inched to the halfway mark on 62/2, losing Jos Buttler (22) caught by Shivam Mavi off the bowling of Tim Southee along the way.
Samson then tried to pick up the rate along with Karun Nair (13), but he was caught by Singh at deep midwicket off the bowling of Anukul Roy at the start of the 13th over with the score 90 for three.
Riyan Parag (19 off 12) played a little cameo, hitting one four and two sixes, to help the Royals past 100, but back-to-back wickets at the end of the 17th and the start of the 18th saw Parag and Samson both caught in the deep off Southee and Mavi respectively, leaving the Royals on 115 for five.
This brought Ashwin (six not out) in to join Hetmeyer and his job was just to get the West Indian on strike, which he managed to do during the final three overs.
Two huge sixes off the first two balls of Southee in the 19th, followed by some good running between the wickets, saw the over go for 20.
Mavi then bowled a solid final over, but Hetmeyer still managed to find the boundary as 10 came off it, allowing them to get past 150.