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IPL 2020: Kolkata maul Rajasthan to stay in the hunt
Pat Cummins of Kolkata Knight Riders celebrates the wicket of Steve Smith.— IPL
Dubai - In the fight for 14 points and a place in the top four, Kolkata and Rajasthan gave their all at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday evening.
Indian Premier League 2020 edition in the UAE has been a revelation. Starting the knockout match at No.8 spot, Kolkata Knight Riders crushed Rajasthan Royals by 60 runs to keep their hopes alive of a playoff spot and jump to fourth place on the points table. The tournament is so closely fought that Kolkata, a team from the bottom half of the grid, can still lift their third IPL trophy in Dubai on November 10.
In the fight for 14 points and a place in the top four, Kolkata and Rajasthan gave their all at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday evening.
Put into bat, Eoin Morgan smashed a 35-ball 68, shared a quick 45-run stand with Andre Russell (11-ball 25) and 40-run with Pat Cummins (11-ball 15), as Kolkata posted 191/7 against Rajasthan. While defending, Cummins pocketed four key wickets to decide the contest in the power play over. Rajasthan at the end could muster only 131/9 and drop to the last place.
The chase was turned into an action-packed entertainer with Rajasthan setting an ambitious target to gun down the target in 13.4 overs at under 15 runs an over to edge past the net run rate of No. 2 Royal Challengers Bangalore and No.3 Delhi Capitals.
Kolkata’s first over from Cummins set the tone. A first-ball six from Robin Uthappa, more strokes from an innovative Ben Stokes followed and culminated a final delivery wicket in what was this season’s most expensive opening over leaking 19 runs. Cummins returned to slam a double blow. He packed Stokes (11-ball 18) off as wicketkeeper Dinesh Karthik dived to his right to pluck a stunning catch and then castled Steven Smith (4) in the last ball of the over.
Rajasthan had sprinted to 32 runs from just three overs but at the cost of three match winners. Rajasthan lost one more as Shivam Mavi got an inside edge from Sanju Samson (1) that was gobbled by Karthik. Cummins picked his fourth of the day dismissing Riyan Parag (0) caught again by Karthik as Rajasthan plunged to 37/5 after five overs. Cummins was on a roll in the power play overs picking four wickets, three from the last balls of his three overs.
New pair of Jos Buttler and Rahul Tewatia set the repair work in motion. But Buttler (22-ball 35) perished trying to pull Varun Chakravarthy. Kolkata at 80/6 still needed 112 from 56 balls. But an unbeaten Gopal with run-a-ball 23, Tewatia (27-ball 31), Jofra Archer (6) and Kartik Tyagi (2) could just reduce the deficit.
Earlier batting first, Shubman Gill and Rahul Tripathi raised 55 from the first power play. But Tewatia ended the 72-run stand with the wicket of Gill (24-ball 36) and then snared Sunil Narine (0) as Kolkata were in a spot at 74/3 after nine overs.
Morgan gave Kolkata some momentum with a six off Tyagi. Spinners got Rajasthan back into the contest as Gopal nailed Tripathi (34-ball 39) and Tewatia sent Karthik (0) to finish his spell with 3 for 25. With seven overs to go, Morgan shifted gears with two fours and sixes off Gopal. Russell dealt in sixes but lost focus and got himself out. Morgan in the company of Cummins set an imposing target. Kolkata with the huge win sit at fourth spot with net run rate of -0.21 and remain in contention going into the business end of the tournament.
ashwani@khaleejtimes.com
Scoreboard
Kolkata Knight Riders
S Gill c Buttler b Tewatia 36
N Rana c Samson b Archer 0
R Tripathi c Uthappa b Gopal 39
S Narine c Stokes b Tewatia 0
E Morgan not out 68
K Karthik c Smith b Tewatia 0
A Russell c sub (D Miller) b K Tyagi 25
P Cummins c Samson b K Tyagi 15
K Nagarkoti not out 1
Extras (lb5, w2) 7
Total (7 wkts, 20 overs) 191
Fall of wickets: 1-1 (Rana, 0.2 ov), 2-73 (Gill, 8.3 ov), 3-74 (Narine, 8.6 ov), 4-94 (Tripathi, 11.6 ov), 5-99 (Karthik, 12.3 ov), 6-144 (Russell, 15.3 ov), 7-184 (Cummins, 19.2 ov)
Bowling: J Archer-4-0-19-1; V Aaron-2-0-22-0; S Gopal-3-0-44-1; B Stokes-3-0-40-0; R Tewatia-4-0-25-3; K Tyagi-4-0-36-2
Rajasthan Royals
R Uthappa c Nagarkoti b Cummins 6
B Stokes c Karthik b Cummins 18
S Smith b Cummins 4
S Samson c Karthik b S Mavi 1
J Buttler c Cummins b Varun 35
R Parag c Karthik b Cummins 0
R Tewatia c Karthik b Varun 31
S Gopal not out 23
J Archer c S Mavi b Nagarkoti 6
K Tyagi c & b S Mavi 2
V Aaron not out 0
Extras (lb1, w4) 5
Total (9 wkts, 20 overs) 131
Fall of wickets: 1-19 (Uthappa, 0.6 ov), 2-27 (Stokes, 2.1 ov), 3-32 (Smith, 2.6 ov), 4-32 (Samson, 3.3 ov), 5-37 (Parag, 4.6 ov), 6-80 (Buttler, 10.4 ov), 7-105 (Tewatia, 14.4 ov), 8-125 (Archer, 17.3 ov), 9-129 (Tyagi, 18.3 ov)
Bowling: P Cummins 4-0-34-4; S Mavi 4-1-15-2; C Varun 4-0-20-2; S Narine 4-0-37-0; K Nagarkoti 4-0-24-1
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