Kolkata down Rajasthan to edge closer to playoffs

Kolkata - Riding on Chris Lynn's 45 and an unbeaten 31 from their skipper Dinesh Karthik, Kolkata Knight Riders chased down the 143-run target in 18 overs

Hosts Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Rajasthan Royals by six wickets to edge closer to playoffs of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Eden Gardens here on Tuesday.
Riding on Chris Lynn's 45 and an unbeaten 31 from their skipper Dinesh Karthik, Kolkata Knight Riders chased down the 143-run target in 18 overs.
 
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With this victory, Kolkata Knight Riders stayed at third with 14 points to strengthen their play-off chances while Rajasthan Royals remained on 12 points.
Earlier, chinaman Kuldeep Yadav scalped four wickets to help Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) recover from a Powerplay blitz by Rajasthan Royals (RR) openers and skittle them out for 142 in 19 overs.
In-form English wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler (39 from 22 balls; 5x4, 2x6) and Maharashtra's Rahul Tripathi (27 from 15; 4x4, 1x6) toyed with the KKR pacers to race to 49/0 after three overs.
But once Andre Russell (2/13) got the wicket of Tripathi, it was all downhill for the away side as Kuldeep (4/20) saw off skipper Ajinkya Rahane (11), Buttler, Stuart Binny (1), and Ben Stokes (11) to rack up his best figures of the season.
The 23-year old, who had not been at his best before this game, took a wicket in each of his overs as Royals' batsmen showed poor application and had only themselves to blame for the collapse.
The visitors got off to a dream start with Tripathi and Buttler taking Prasidh Krishna (2/35) and Shivam Mavi (1/44) to the cleaners.
Tripathi was opening the batting after the off-colour D'Arcy Short was dropped.
, hit Krishna for a six and a hat-trick of fours, Buttler took a liking to Mavi, who leaked just two runs in the first over, smashing him for 28 runs in the third over.
Tripathi was dropped off the first ball of the match by Nitish Rana at wide slip off Mavi.
Mavi's over was the season's joint-most expensive one, with the U-19 World Cup winning pacer conceding 28 against Shreyas Iyer versus Delhi Daredevils as well.
KKR bled 46 runs in 10 balls as the pair brought up their 50-run stand in 20 balls.
Tripathi fell to Russell in the West Indian's first over, hurrying on a pull and giving skipper Dinesh Karthik an easy catch behind the stumps. The opening wicket partnership was 63 off just 29 deliveries.
After six overs, Royals were 68/1 with 58 runs coming in boundaries (10 fours and three sixes).
Skipper Rahane's poor form with the bat continued as he tried to reverse sweep Kuldeep but ended up losing his stumps.
Royals' carnage was checked right after the halfway stage as Kuldeep removed Buttler who looked good to break Virender Sehwag's record of five consecutive fifties.
The momentum swung the home team's way as Narine trapped Sanju Samson (12) leg before to leave the inaugural champions tottering at 95/4.
Kuldeep then produced a sensational googly to outfox Binny and in his next over forced Stokes to miss the line bowling around the wicket.
Former KKR pacer Jaydev Unadkat tried to stem the rot with a 18-ball 26 before Krishna got his back. 
Scoreboard
Rajasthan Royals
Tripathi c Karthik b Russell 27
Buttler c Scantlebury-Searles b Yadav 39
Rahane b Yadav 11
Samson lbw Narine 12
Stokes c & b Yadav 11
Binny st Karthik b Yadav 1
Gowtham c Karthik b Mavi 3
Unadkat b Krishna 26
Sodhi c Karthik b Krishna 1
Archer c Gill b Russell 6
Anureet not out 3
Extras 2 (lb 1, w 1)
Total (All out in 19 overs) 142
Fall: 1-63, 2-76, 3-85, 4-95, 5-96, 6-103, 7-107, 8-128, 9-135, 10-142
Bowling: Mavi 4-0-44-1, Krishna 4-0-35-2, Narine 4-0-29-1, Russell 3-0-13-2, Yadav 4-0-20-4.
Kolkata Knight Riders
Narine c Gowtham b Stokes 21
Lynn c Anureet b Stokes 45
Uthappa c Tripathi b Stokes 4
Rana lbw Sodhi 21
Karthik not out 31
Russell not out 20
Extras 2 (lb 1, w 1)
Total (Four wickets in 18 overs) 144
Fall: 1-21, 2-36, 3-69, 4-117.
Bowling: Gowtham 2-0-32-0, Stokes 4-1-15-3, Archer 4-0-42-0, Sodhi 4-0-21-1, Unadkat 3-0-23-0, Anureet 1-0-10-0

• IPL 2019