IPL 2018 KKR vs RR Eliminator: KKR land KO punch on RR, to play SRH in Qualifier 2

IPL Highlights KKR vs RR: Kuldeep Yadav picked up one wicket for 18 runs in four overs. (PTI Photo)

Rajasthan Royals had done everything right in the Eliminator against Kolkata Knight Riders and even the conditions favoured them. They bowled well on a damp pitch which turned decent to bat on in the second innings. After 10 overs, they were 87 for 1 and needed 83 more from 60 balls but Kolkata Knight Riders bowlers made life difficult for Royals. Ajikya Rahane was batting on 28 off 20 balls and then ended the innings with 46 off 40 balls which slowed down Royals. 40 runs off 12 balls were too many for them as they lost to Knight Riders by 25 runs and a spot in the Qualifier 2 against Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Kolkata were also in a similar sort of situation with their batsmen struggling in the powerplay and just when Royals should have tighten the screws, Dinesh Karthik and Shubman Gill shifted gears with the 14th over from Shreyas Gopal going for 20 runs, Gill hitting two sixes in that. Andre Russell then joined Karthik, who scored his 16th IPL fifty. Knight Riders recovered from 52 for 4 to 169 with Russell remaining unbeaten on 49 off 25 balls. This was a competitive score on the pitch where wrist-spinners Piyush Chawla and Kuldeep Yadav made sure there were no freebies for Rajasthan. KKR will now face SRH in a virtual semi-final on Friday at Eden Gardens.

K Gowtham and Jofra Archer took two wickets each which had reduced Kolkata to 46 for three inside the Powerplay overs. But then Karthik scored 38-ball 52 and Russell hit 29-ball unbeaten 49, an innings which included three boundaries and five sixes. Karthik added 55 runs off 38 balls with Gill who scored a 17-ball 28 with three fours and a six, which was the first of the Kolkata innings.

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Rajasthan bowlers were on the money for the first half of the innings but Jaydev Unadkat leaked 33 runs from his two overs which gave the two-time champions the momentum at the death.

Rahane did not let Kolkata take wickets but his batting made life difficult for his own team. He saw the required run-rate creep up between 10th and 15th over. He was undone by Kuldeep and then Chawla foxed Samson. Kolkata’s young pacer Krishna gave away just three runs in the 18th over to tilt the match in their favour. With Royals’ middle order missing an hitter, the team failed to score runs and ended 25 runs short of the target.