KKR win by 7 wickets. (Source: BCCI)
Kolkata Knight Riders bagged their second win on the trot after beating Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur by 7 wickets. Chasing a target of 161 runs, KKR went over the line comprehensively. Nitish Rana who scalped two wickets and scored unbeaten 35 was adjudged man of the match. Rana during the post-match presentation insisted that his job with the ball is to defend as many runs as he can.
“I know that my job is to defend runs and that’s what I was striving for. I bowl regularly in domestic cricket. Backed myself, and I’m lucky to be MoM in both these last two games. Big platform this, we don’t get loose balls regularly. The ones we get have to be converted into boundaries. That’s why I was getting frustrated that I wasn’t able to put some of them away. It’s there at the back of my mind (to play for India), but right now my focus is to do my best,” Rana said.
Kolkata Knight Riders expressed his delight over winning two back to back matches but admitted that his side needs to work on certain areas. “Feels good to get two wins on the trot. Slowly things are going in a good direction. Just feel that the wrist-spinners are a little harder to pick. For the fast bowlers, it could come onto the bat. So it makes sense to go with spinners at the top. Spinners did a good job for us. The way Robin batted was fantastic. He set the tone for us. Nitish is getting used to that role where he’s coming not out which is good to see. Fielding could be better, death bowling could be better. If you want me to be harsh, even fast bowlers could be better. Consistency is something we’re looking at as a team. Rana is a good player. Last year he did well for MI. And now he’s come to KKR. He’s got a couple of rough ones, got a couple of good catches taken off him. His arm is slightly higher than Kedar Jadhav but he’s done a good job for us.”
Leg-spinner Piyush Chawla started the proceedings for KKR with ball and he returned with figures of 1/18 in 4 overs. Talking about his role and bowling in the powerplay overs Chawla said, “It is not easy to bowl in the powerplay. But at the moment, I am really enjoying it. As a leg-spinner, I always look to take wickets. But, when the situation demands, you have to bowl defensively. I always try to take wickets. We are fortunate enough to have 3 quality spinners and if you bowl well in tandem, you can restrict the teams under 150-160.”
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