IPL 2022 KKR vs RR Highlights: Rinku, Rana guide Kolkata to 7-wicket win against Rajasthan

With 46 needed from 29 balls, left-handed Rinku Singh had to do something. Facing the pacy Kuldeep Sen, he decided to do a Rishabh Pant. It was a full-length ball on the legs and Rinku leaned forward, flexed his knee, collapsed his arms and played a wonderful pick-up shot over backward square-leg for a six. The way the hands fold up and go up suggests as if he is throwing an Angavastram, a man-stole, over the shoulder, exactly how Pant does it too. It’s a mutation of Saeed Anwar’s marvellous swat-flick, a shot he would play often against Javagal Srinath. Anwar’s talent allowed him to flick the ball angling across him from off-and-middle too. Pant, and now Rinku, have mutated that shot to a fling of a man-stole and can hit a fine arc behind square-leg.

Sriram Veera

39 runs required from 4 overs now. Krishna to bowl one of them. Ohhhhh. Could have been caught by Boult but falls just short. Saved a boundary though. That's a pull by Rinku and gets a much-needed boundary. 8 from this one. KKR 122/3 after 17 overs

We are in the slog overs now and Kuldeep will bowl the first of it . Oh god!! Where has this landed? What an absolute monster by Rinku Singh for a 6!!! Just 7 off the over. KKR 114/3 after 16 overs

R Ashwin doesn’t like to bowl off-spin too much in T20s against most batsman not named Rohit Sharma, whom he took out in the last game with a regular off-break. One waited to see if he would use it more often against the left-handed Nitish Rana, who has a good record against him. He did slip in a lovely off-break that turned and spat past Rana’s defensive prod. Ashwin cast a cheeky look across at the batsman. Next over, though, Rana took charge. A carrom ball on middle-and-leg was reverse-paddled to the fine-leg boundary. An under-cutter on a similar line was flung over midwicket for a six. Finally, a slower off-break arrived but somehow Rana reverse-lapped it to the fine-leg boundary. “Rana is one of those left-handers who is actually good against the ball leaving him,” Ian Bishop would say. That may be the case but Ashwin didn’t really test him with it. Perhaps, he could have trusted his big-spinning off-break more but he seems to fear that reverse-sweep. Considering that Rana still plays that shot to him, a ripping off-break wouldn’t be that bad a try. 16 runs came in that 11th over that kickstarted the Kolkata Knight Riders chase.

Sriram Veera

Ashwin in to bowl his last over. 4 runs from the first four balls. That's a direct hit. Great fielding,.But the batter is safely in. Just 6 from this over. KKR 107/3 after 15 overs.

As Abhinav Mukund said on air, Prasidh Krishna replayed some action from the kid’s game ‘seven stones’ and hurt teammate Trent Boult. An inswinging delivery was pushed to mid-on and Boult, the bowler, was still thinking about how close it was to the pads and a plausible LBW call, and had his face in his hands when he suddenly realised he could be in the path of danger. Krishna picked up the ball at mid-on and fired a throw at the striker’s end to which Aaron Finch was rushing. Boult just about put his hand up towards Krishna, as if to suggest don’t throw, but by then it was too late. Up he jumped to get out of the way, and luckily the ball smashed into his boots. A little higher and Boult could have damaged his shin. Jos Buttler smiled, so did Krishna himself as Boult shrugged off the pain and walked back. Krishna took a couple of steps and did a high-five with the Kiwi, who must thank his stars he managed to jump just in time to get it on his shoes. “Good quality shoes saved him there,” said S Ramesh on air.  “Krishna was playing ‘seven stones’,” Mukund would say, “That’s where before the person re-arranges the stones, you have to hit the shin!”

-Sriram Veera

Rinku Singh finished off Boult's last over with a four. Chahal back to bowl the 14th. Looks gettable for KKR here with a lot of batting still to come. 4 runs off the first four balls. They need a boundary now in order to ease the pressure but it's Chahal so they might not take chances in this one. KKR 101/3 after 14 overs

Rajasthan has brought back Boult to bowl thec 13th. This wil finish his spell for the game. Rana pulls, gets just 1 run as he gives the strike back to Iyer. Lovely placement by Rana to just ease the ball to the boundary. Without opening the face of the bat. Is that out?? The umpire has given a wide. Sanju seems confident that this is caught behind. He reviews. That's hit Iyer's gloves. That's gone. Good review. KKR 92/3 after 12.5 overs

Chahal in to bowl the 12th and a half-hearted LBW appeal on Shreyas to start. Next, Shreyas comes down the ground and wallops a six into the stands. That's 50 partnership for KKR. KKR 85/2 after 12 overs

Rana starts Ashwin's over with a four off a switch-hit and a six. Make that 3 boundaries as Rana is really going after Ashwin here. This is exactly what Kolkata needed. KKR 75/2 after 11 overs

Kuldeep Sen in to bowl the 10th and starts with a quick one as Rana swings and misses. 2 wides to follow. Great shot by Iyer, gives himself a lot of room and just slashes it to the boundary for a four!! Comeback by Kuldeep as he bowls a venoumous yorker to the KKR captain's legs. Great fielding by Ashwin to prevent another four. oh in the air and just short. KKR 59/2 after 10 overs.

Ashwin in to bowl the 9th over as the required run rate goes up to 9 for KKR. 2 runs off the first 3 balls. Kolkata ticking along slowly. Uff what a ball. Beats Rana comprehensively. Just 4 off this one. KKR 50/2 after 9 overs as we go for timeout

Yuzvendra Chahal is brought into the attack for the 8th over and Kolkata will look to play him really carefully after his fifer against them last time they met. Just 6 from this over. KKR 46/2 after 8 overs

Ashwin to to bowl the 7th and a wonderful cut by Shreyas for a four. Silky smooth shot. Two runs off the next 2 balls. And a single off the next. 8 from this over. KKR 40/2 after 7 overs.

Last over of te powerplay and Krishna to bowl this one. A neat shot by Iyer to start the over as he starts with 2 runs. Whoops. Krshna misses a run out attempt. Next ball, Indrajith just scoops it behind for a boundary. Great batting. And he's gone the next ball!!! Tries to hit it, gets the edge and Ashwin takes the catch at fine leg. KKR 32/2 after 5.4 overs

Penultimate over of the powerplay to be bowled by Boult. Can he take a wicket and peg Kolkata back? Just 2 runs off the first 4 balls. Just 5 runs. KKR 25/1 after 5 overs

Shreyas Iyer comes in and gets off the mark with a four. Same ball as Finch's but different results. Great over. Just 6 runs from it and the wicket of Finch. KKR 21/1 after 4 overs

The impressive Kuldeep Sen starts with a wide ball. Next ball, Finch plays it on and his wickets are a mess. Sen strikes. Finch has to depart. Never looked comfortable there, Aaron Finch. KKR 16/1 after 3.1 overs. 

Trent Boult in to bowl the third and what is this? Prasidh throws the ball and it hits Boult in the shoe. KKR meanwhile take two runs as this is going on in the middle. Finch is really having difficulty timing his shots. KKR 15/0 after 3 overs.

Prasidh in to bowl the second over and Indrajith hits him for a four. Lovely shot. That just pierces the gap and the fielder has no chance of reaching it. KKR 11/0 after 2 overs

Indrajith and Finch are at the crease. Indrajith is on strike. Boult will open the attack. Indrajith staright off the mark with a single. Great ball. Finch does not know where it wemt. Outer edge and the batters take 2 runs. KKR 6/0 after 1 over

Feeling good in the purple jersey. I was bowling well in the nets, so the captain gave me the ball in the powerplay. In the powerplay I field inside the ring, after that powerplay I field in the deep. The ball is skidding on nicely for the pacers. No dew so far, let's see if we get some in the second innings.

Last over now and Hetmyer has asked for a change of gloves. Ashwin is on strike as Russell dances near the bounadry ropes while this is going on. Ashwin takes a single and Hetmyer is back on strike. A four in the second ball. Not a bad ball by Mavi but Hetmyer is on song this year. Great deliveries by Mavi to get back to back dots. Hetmyer hits one high but it's just safe and it's an umpire referral for run out. Hetmyer is safely in. Last ball now. That's a wide and 150 comes up for Rajasthan. RR end at 152/5 after 20 overs.

The penultimate over of the innings underway now as Hetmyer pulls Southee for a six in the very first ball. Next ball, same result. Another six by Hetmyer. This time clears the long on boundary. Just brutish force. 2 runs off the next 2 balls and Hetmyer is back on strike again. Can he finish this one with a flourish? 2 runs again. A wide in the last ball. Will have to bowl this one again. RR 142/5 after 19 overs

GONE!!! Oh ho ho ho. Samson hits this one. Everyone thought that was sailing over the boundary but it got te elevation but not the distance!!! Rinku Singh makes no mistake as the skipper departs off Mavi. RR 115/5 after 17.1 overs.

17th over now as we return from time out and Southee strikes straightaway as the onfield umpire gives Samson out for LBW. RR review. Ultraedge shows wickets missing and Samson survives. 2 dots to follow and the next ball is hit for a monster by Parag. Next ball, he is gone!!! Parag went for a big one and he's caught by Roy. RR 115/4 after 17 overs

Narine in to bowl the first in the slog overs. 1 run off the first two balls. Next ball also yields a single. Rajasthan batters are having a bit of difficulty hitting him out of the park. 2 dots to end. What an over by Narine. RR 108/3 after 16 overs as we go for a timeout

Umesh in to bowl the last over of his spell. Starts with 3 back to back dots before finally yielding 1 run off the fourth ball. Brilliant bowling. Ends this over with a 4. Just 5 from it. RR 15/3 after 15 overs.

That's Sanju Sanson's 50 in 38 balls. Great batting. Came in early and has really stabilised the innings. Can he take Rajasthan to anything over 160 runs? A six by Parag to end this over as 100 comes up for Rajasthan. RR 100/3 after 14 overs.

OUT!!!! Karuin Nair opens up his hands and tries to hit a big one but could not clear Rinku Singh near the boundary. Anukul Roy gets a wicket as Nair has to depart. RR 90/3 after 13.1 overs

That's a four by Samson to start the 13th over. Samson is just 2 runs away from his 50. Might get it in this over only. A single to take him to 49 runs. Nair gets hold of the next ball and hits a four. Samson still waits for that 50. RR 90/2 after 13 overs

FOUR! That is an outstanding shot! Brilliant! Flatter and just outside off, not a lot of width on offer. Samson waits and then plays it behind point for a boundary. RR: 49/1 after 7 overs

Anukul Roy is taken to the cleaners and it is the trademark shot from Sanju Samson! Lofts it nonchalantly over the cover fence for a biggie. The last ball spoils the over but still, it is a good Powerplay for Kolkata. RR: 38/1 after 6 overs

Umesh Yadav to Sanju Samson, FOUR! Just over! A length ball, outside off. Samson tries to go over mid off and gets enough elevation for the ball to travel over the leaping mid off fielder. A boundary. RR: 27/1 after 5 overs

FOUR! Finally a boundary for Rajasthan and Samson is off the mark! Anukul Roy chases and dives but to no avail. RR:12/1 after 4 overs

CAUGHT AND BOWLED! Umesh Yadav removes Devdutt Padikkal early. Yadav continues to be impressive this season. Sanju Samson is in at number 3. RR: 7/1 after 3 overs

That was not intended to meet the boundary but that's how good Buttler is this season. Full ball, on-off. Buttler looks to push on the offside but mistimes it past mid on. Tim Southee from mid off chases it back and puts in a dive but fails to keep it away from the fence.

We are ready for play! The two umpires are out in the middle and they are followed by the players of Kolkata. Rajasthan openers Jos Buttler and Devdutt Padikkal out in the middle. Umesh Yadav has the new ball in hand and is raring to go. Let's play...

Nothing different today, looking forward to winning some tosses going forward. In this format the margin for error is very small. We have put in a great standard. Nothing much to improve on. We have Karun Nair coming in for Mitchell in this game. We are making a few changes looking at the conditions, and we feel Karun Nair will be a better option against tonight's opponents.

We will bowl first, seems like a used wicket. Considering the dew factor it helps us in the second innings. We have lost many close games. The chat is always been positive cricket. We need to play fearless cricket. We have two changes. Roy comes in for Venky and Mavi comes in. It's important to have the right combination. We are trying to give as many matches as possible to the players, but it's also important to get the right combinations.

Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Aaron Finch, Sunil Narine, Shreyas Iyer(c), Baba Indrajith(w), Nitish Rana, Anukul Roy, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Shivam Mavi

Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Jos Buttler, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson(w/c), Karun Nair, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Sen

It's time for the toss. Shreyas tosses the coin and wins it. KKR will bowl first against RR.

Looks like there's another change in the offing for the Kolkata Knight Riders. Anukul Roy is set to make his debut for KKR as Rinku Singh presents him the cap.

Looks a very hard surface and it's extremely dry. Yesterday we saw a big total posted by LSG. With similar conditions, you can expect a high scoring game tonight. There will be a little bit of spin on offer. With the wickets starting to get tired, the captain winning the toss should elect to bat first, reckons Hayden.

American football legend Larry Fitzgerald, double Olympic gold medallist basketball star Chris Paul are among the new investors in IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals. The duo, along with another NFL star Kelvin Beachum, are now minority investors in the IPL franchise which is owned by Emerging Media Ventures, an entity that is fully controlled by Manoj Badale. (READ MORE)

- After nine matches, Buttler has 566 runs. During the same stage, in his sensational 2016 season, Virat Kohli had made 561. Can Buttler break the record of most runs in an IPL season set by Kohli (973)?

- At the Wankhede, in the 14 matches RR have played, they've managed to win just three.

- Andre Russell is 73 runs away from 2000 runs in IPL while Sunil Narine needs 19 more to complete 1000 runs in the league.

In their last encounter, Rajasthan Royals edged a thriller by seven runs to hand Kolkata Knight Riders their third successive loss at the Brabourne Stadium. Jos Buttler’s second century of the season launched RR to 217, but despite Yuzvendra Chahal’s game-changing hat-trick, KKR were in with a chance before they were dismissed in the last over. (READ OUR MATCH REPORT)

In the last encounter between these two sides, despite picking up a wicket with no runs on the board, RR were put under pressure with Aaron Finch and Shreyas making 107 for the second wicket. Tonight, the RR bowlers will be tasked with snapping up early wickets of a KKR lineup which keeps on changing its shape.

This season, Rajasthan Royals’ Jos Buttler is at the top of the 2022 IPL’s run-scoring charts with 566 runs so far. He is followed by KL Rahul (451), Abhishek Sharma ( 324), Hardik Pandya (308), Tilak Varma (307). (READ MORE)

Both Rajasthan's Yuzvendra Chahal and Kolkata's Umesh Yadav are in the race for the Purple Cap. While Chahal leads the race with 19 wickets, Umesh has 14 wickets in his kitty and is one good spell away from climbing up the charts. (READ MORE)

Kolkata Knight Riders Squad: Aaron Finch, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer(c), Baba Indrajith(w), Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Umesh Yadav, Tim Southee, Harshit Rana, Ajinkya Rahane, Mohammad Nabi, Sam Billings, Pat Cummins, Sheldon Jackson, Chamika Karunaratne, Anukul Roy, Shivam Mavi, Pratham Singh, Abhijeet Tomar, Varun Chakaravarthy, Aman Hakim Khan, Ashok Sharma, Ramesh Kumar

Rajasthan Royals Squad: Jos Buttler, Devdutt Padikkal, Sanju Samson(w/c), Daryl Mitchell, Shimron Hetmyer, Riyan Parag, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Prasidh Krishna, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Sen, Karun Nair, James Neesham, Rassie van der Dussen, Navdeep Saini, KC Cariappa, Obed McCoy, Tejas Baroka, Kuldip Yadav, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Anunay Singh, Dhruv Jurel, Shubham Garhwal

Kolkata has a readymade weapon in their ranks aginst Yuziu Chahal in the form of Andre Russell. The batter strikes them at 216.22, averages 80 against Chahal and has made 80 runs in the 37 balls he's faced from Chahal. But can he play as freely as he wants in the face of a Kolkata batting crisis?

Wankhede is proving to be a strange dilemma for the captains. The last two matches there have been won by teams chasing but the five matches before that were won by teams batting first. So after winning the toss, teams could opt to chase.

As Yuzvendra Chahal showed during his match-changing four-wicket over against Kolkata Knight Riders the last time they met, the practitioner of the game’s most difficult art has internalised when to go for wickets and when not to. He’s always had the control, so moving back and forth between attack and defense, even in a format with the thinnest of margins, has become more a case of intent than ability for him. (READ MORE)

The last time these two sides met, Kolkata were completely dominated by Rajasthan.Jos Buttler’s swashbuckling ton first set up the Royals for one of the highest totals of IPL 2022, followed by Yuzvendra Chahal’s stunning fifer (including a hat-trick) that helped seal a 7-run win. Kolkata's captain Shreyas Iyer at one point looked to take KKR to victory but as he fell, the wind was knocked out of the Knights' sails.

This match will be played at the Wankhede Stadium, where the Royals have won two of their three matches so far this season. KKR have a similar record at this venue, but are coming off five consecutive losses. The Royals though, have won three of their last four.

Kolkata's Baba Indrajith received his IPL cap against Delhi Capitals but could not make much impact on the match as Kolkata went down by 4 wickets. If given a chance tonight, can he change his and KKR's fortunes around?

Rajasthan skipper Sanju Samson has had a stop-start season. He has gotten off to a good start but has failed to convert them into anything substantial. He'll be looking to rectify that against Kolkata tonight.