KKR vs RR: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) defeated Rajasthan Royals (RR) by 60 runs in the 54th match of the 13th season of Indian Premier League (IPL 2020). With this victory, Kolkata remains intact in the playoff race. At the same time, Rajasthan has become the third team to be eliminated from the tournament. Earlier, Chennai Super Kings and Kings XI Punjab were eliminated from the tournament.
Batting first after losing the toss in Dubai, Kolkata gave Rajasthan a target of 192 runs. In response, Rajasthan was able to score 131 runs at the loss of 9 wickets.
Pat Cummins Scattered Rajasthan Royals in The Power-Play
Rajasthan team could not bear the pressure of the big match, chasing the target in the do or die match. Kolkata fast bowler Pat Cummins scattered the team with 4 wickets in the power-play itself. Rajasthan had lost 5 big batsmen for 37 runs. Cummins gave the team the first 3 shocks. He dismissed captain Steve Smith (4). Ben Stokes (18) and Robin Uthappa (6).
The fourth wicket of Rajasthan was taken by Shivam Mavi. He dismissed Sanju Samson (1) caught by Dinesh Karthik. In the 5th over of the innings, Cummins sent Ryan Parag back to the pavilion.
Buttler-Tewatia Tried to Handle RR’s Innings
Jos Buttler scored 35 off 22 balls and Rahul Tewatia scored 31 off 27 deliveries, but could not help to win the match for the team. Both wickets were taken by Varun Chakraborty. KKR fast bowler Pat Cummins took the maximum 4 wickets. Varun Chakraborty and Shivam Mavi got 2–2 wickets.
Morgan’s First Fifty in Season
Kolkata had scored 191 runs losing 7 wickets. Skipper Eoin Morgan scored the highest 68 off 35 balls for Kolkata. This is his first in a season and the fifth in the league. Apart from him, Rahul Tripathi scored 39 and Shubman Gill scored 36 runs. In the end, Andre Russell scored 25 off 11 balls. Rahul Tewatia of Rajasthan took the most 3 wickets for 25 runs in 4 overs. Apart from him, Karthik Tyagi got 2 and Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal got 1-1 wickets.
Kolkata Reached Big Score After a Poor Start
KKR had a very poor start today in the crucial match. The team lost the first wicket on 1 run. Nitish Rana returned to the pavilion without scoring a single run. After this, opener Shubman and Rahul made a 72-run partnership for the second wicket. After this, the team lost 4 wickets one after the other within 26 runs. From here, Morgan made a partnership of 45 runs with Russell and 40 runs with Pat Cummins to take the score to 191.
Tewatia 3 Wickets for RR
Tewatia gave KKR 3 shocks. He sent Dinesh Karthik and Sunil Narine back to the pavilion without letting them score a single run. Thereafter Shubman Gill was dismissed by Tewatia for an individual score of 36 runs.
Man of The Match
Pat Cummins is adjudged Man of the Match for his match-winning spell of 4/34.
Pat Cummins Performance:
| Over | Runs | Wickets | Dots |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 34 | 4 | 13 |
Kolkata Knight Riders & Rajasthan Royals Playing 11
Kolkata Knight Riders:
S Gill, N Rana, R Tripathi, D Karthik (WK), E Morgan (C), A Russell, S Narine, P Cummins, K Nagarkoti, S Mavi, V Chakravarthy
Rajasthan Royals:
R Uthappa, B Stokes, S Samson (WK), S Smith (C), J Buttler, R Parag, R Tewatia, J Archer, S Gopal, K Tyagi, V Aaron
Changes in Playing 11
Rajasthan Royals captain Steve Smith did not make any changes in the playing eleven. At the same time, captain Eoin Morgan of Kolkata made two changes in the team. Shivam Mavi and Andre Russell were replaced in place of Rinku Singh and Lockie Ferguson.