IPL 2020, RR vs KKR: Kolkata Knight Riders won their second match of the campaign.Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) won their second match on the trot in the ongoing campaign as they won by 37 runs against Rajasthan Royals (RR) at the Dubai International Stadium on Wednesday.
After Rajasthan won the toss and sent Kolkata in to bat, Shubman Gill (47) and Eoin Morgan (34*) guided their team to a decent 174/6 after 20 overs. In Rajasthan’s chase, their batting order crumbled in the early overs itself as Steve Smith and Sanju Samson were dismissed inside of powerplay. Kolkata reduced them to 67/6 in 11 overs and clinched the victory when they restricted their opponents to 137/9 at the end of 20 overs.
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Kolkata's bowlers do the deed here in Dubai as they completely dominate the Rajasthan batting order. With the help of Shivam Mavi (2/20), Kamlesh Nagarkoti (2/13), and Varun Chakravarthy (2/25), they reduced them to 67/6. Despite a late, late show by Tom Curran (54*), Royals succumb to their first defeat of the campaign. They ended their innings on 137/9 at the end of 20 overs.
After Chakravarthy ended his spell on 2/25, Kuldeep continues with his spell aiming for a wicket now to boost his confidence. And he does get one... Unadkat (9) is sent back after his pulled shot lands in the hands of Nagarkoti. RR: 106/9 (18 overs)
Kuldeep Yadav comes into the attack, and bowls a super over. He doesn't provide either of the batsman a single opportunity to smack him for a big run. Curran and Unadkat are dealing in singles now. Just seven runs off the over. RR: 97/8 (16 overs)
Chakravarthy in for his third over. Archer smacks him for a humongous six as he clobbers it over long-off. But the spinner bounces back as the destructive pacer is caught superbly by Nagarkoti. Rajasthan's chase all but over. RR: 88/8 (14.4 overs)
Just the 10 runs from the last two overs for Rajasthan. Narine continues with his spell and puts more pressure on the batsmen as there's a shout for a caught behind. Third umpire says the ball hit Gopal's hand and it's out! Gone for 5. RR: 81/7 (13.5 overs)
Varun Chakravarthy joins the attack and effectively ends Rajasthan's chase! Tewatia (14) steps to the leg-side looking to go over extra cover, but Chakravarthy completely beats him in flight. Clean bowled. Shreyas Gopal comes in. RR: 67/6 (11 overs)
Play resumes after the timeout and Nagarkoti has the ball after Mavi ended his spell on 2/20 in the previous over. Tewatia (13*) hits a six and tries to keep the runs coming but still a massive mountain to climb for him and Curran (7*). RR: 61/5 (10 overs)
WHAT IS HAPPENING? Kolkata are on fire as Nagarkoti gets his second-ever IPL wicket within the space of four balls. Parag tried to be expressive with the bat but he is taken superbly by Gill. Third umpire confirms, Rajasthan in trouble. RR: 42/5 (7.4 overs)
Kamlesh Nagarkoti joins the attack and off his first ball of the match, he has picked up another important wicket for Kolkata. Uthappa tries to pull but his shot lands in the hands of Mavi. He departs for 2. Time for Rahul Tewatia. RR: 41/4 (7.1 overs)
GONE! Another huge, huge wicket for the young Mavi! Mavi's delivery is sliced by Buttler straight to Chakravarthy. The opener departs for 21, and its a lot of responsibility on the shoulders of Uthappa and Parag. KKR in control. RR: 39/3 (6.1 overs)
Cummins comes in for his third after Mavi's influential over, even though he conceded six runs from it. After two leg-byes in the first ball, a catching opportunity comes up on the fourth, but just short for Gill. Three runs off the over. RR: 39/2 (6 overs)
And there's the breakthrough for Kolkata! Mavi gets the in-form Samson on the very first ball of his second over, and this wicket has the potential to change the match on its head. Samson is caught out for 8. Robin Uthappa comes on. RR: 30/2 (4.1 overs)
Cummins comes back for his second over, and Buttler takes his 145 kmph delivery and sends it over the ropes brilliantly! Kolkata must break the partnership between Buttler (15*) and Samson (8*), as both of them can be quite deadly. RR: 30/1 (4 overs)
Shivam Mavi gets the ball for the second over, but Samson makes him put his hands over his head as he hammers him for a four to short fine leg. But the young pacer bounces back with two dot balls and a single. Six runs off the over. RR: 21/1 (3 overs)
After the rather shaky first over, Pat Cummins comes in to do some damage control. Buttler takes a single, but then Smith (3) gets pinned down on the crease. A shout on the fourth, dropped on the fifth, caught behind on the sixth. RR: 15/1 (2 overs)
Steve Smith and Jos Buttler open the innings for RR, and Sunil Narine has the ball. The spinner puts some pressure on in the opening three balls, but Buttler relieves all of it with a huge maximum to his leg side after rushing down the pitch. RR: 12/0 (1 over)
Kolkata found their paces towards the end of their innings after stuttering halfway through it. They end it on 174/6 after 20 overs with Eoin Morgan (34*) leading the tailenders to score 47 runs in the last four overs. Steve Smith's captaincy choices for bowling were effective in getting the key batsmen out and Jofra Archer shone again with 2/18. Rajasthan now need to chase 175.
After smashing Archer (2/18) for 14 runs, Morgan (20*) and Cummins (12) concentrate on making the most of the last three overs. Curran continues with his spell, and Morgan hits him for a speedy four. Morgan and Cummins continue with the running between wickets. In the last ball of the over, Cummins goes for a six but his shot is caught by Samson. KKR: 149/6 (18 overs)
Into the final five now, and it's up to Morgan and Cummins now. Rajasthan, in the driving seat, has Curran bowling for them now but the KKR batsmen can only get seven runs off the over. They need to put 40/50 runs more now. KKR: 127/5 (16 overs)
Rajpoot comes in for his last over and Russell sends the first ball way over the boundary for a six. The pinch-hitter tries to repeat it again but he mistimes his shot in the next ball and it lands in the hands of Unadkat near the ropes. KKR: 115/5 (14.2 overs)
On fire! Archer is unplayable tonight as he removes the KKR captain in style. Nicked behind and caught by Buttler. The batsman goes back on 1, and Karthik's poor run of form continues. Eoin Morgan is on for KKR now. KKR: 106/4 (13.1 overs)
Gopal comes in for his final over and puts pressure on the KKR batsmen. Both Russell and Karthik deal in singles in the opening balls of the over. But there he goes... Russell gets down on one knee and boom: SIX! And again! SIX! KKR: 106/3 (13 overs)
So close, yet so far! Gill is dismissed on 47 after he lifts the ball high up in the air for the bowler Archer to catch it easily. The settled opener walks back after a commendable innings, and now the responsibility's on Russell and Karthik. KKR: 89/3 (11.1 overs)
The man of the hour, Rahul Tewatia is brought into the attack after Gill (40*) smacked Gopal for two fours in the last over. Rana takes on the leg-spinner and hits a four towards deep point. But Tewatia strikes back with a wicket. Rana hits a shot straight down the ground, but it doesn't go the distance and instead lands in the hands of Parag. He goes off for 22. KKR: 82/2 (10 overs)
After Shreyas Gopal went for 10 runs in the last over, Riyan Parag is brought on into the attack. First ball, Rana just slaughters him with a massive maximum. Some excellent running between Rana and Gill in this over. 14 runs off the over. KKR: 66/1 (8 overs)
Nitish Rana is on for Kolkata. Tom Curran is introduced into the attack for RR. After a wide, he maintains his line and length and pens Rana (4*) down to his crease. He does get settled towards the end of the over with a four. Gill is on 19*. KKR: 42/1 (6 overs)
Narine has a change of bat before the start of Unadkat's second over and maybe that has done a trick? Third ball, slow delivery and the West Indies all-rounder just smokes it over deep mid-wicket for half-a-dozen. He follows it with a four on the next ball with impeccable timing. But Unadkat has the final say as he removes the bails of Narine (15) on the next ball. KKR: 36/1 (4.5 overs)
Rajpoot continues his spell and after a wide, he gets smacked for the first four of the innings towards deep by Narine (5*). Gill (17*) follows his partner and adds to the bowler's agony with another four to deep mid-wicket. 11 runs off the over. KKR: 25/0 (4 overs)
Jaydev Unadkat has the ball for the third. He starts well and puts the pressure on the openers. On the fifth ball of the over, Narine lifts it up above everyone's heads, but Uthappa drops the catch. Horrible mistake. Four runs off the over. KKR: 14/0 (3 overs)
Ankit Rajpoot comes in for the second over. A dot ball to start with, but Gill soon finds his groove and just lifts the second delivery over everyone's heads and sends it over the ropes straight down the ground. Nine runs off the over. KKR: 10/0 (2 overs)
Acher begins the over with a full length delivery around off and it goes for a dot ball. Gill takes his time to settle himself against the English pacer. On the fourth ball, he takes a single. Just the one run off the over. Good start by RR. KKR: 1/0 (1 over)
Shubman Gill and Sunil Narine are out to open the innings for KKR. Steve Smith gives Jofra Archer the ball for the opening over. The stage is set. Who can continue building on their winning run? Here we go!
-- Sanju Samson and Jos Buttler need 132 and 110 runs respectively to complete 2500 and 1500 IPL runs.
-- Robin Uthappa needs 1 fifty and 75 runs respectively to complete 25 IPL fifties and 4500 IPL runs.
-- Dinesh Karthik needs 40 runs to complete 1000 IPL runs as captain.
-- Eoin Morgan and Andre Russell require 88 and 89 runs respectively to complete 1000 and 1500 IPL runs.
Steve Smith: 'We will have a bowl. That boundary's big, certainly compared to Sharjah which was a postage stamp. We will certainly have to adapt. We watched the Mumbai/Bangalore Super Over the other day. It's exciting to play on a different ground. We have played some good cricket. The boys in a good place. Same team.
Dinesh Karthik: We are okay with batting first. It looks similar to Abu Dhabi but it plays different. Sharjah is a completely different fish but these two are similar. The brand of cricket we played the other day was something I'm proud of. Same team.
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Shubman Gill, Sunil Narine, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik(w/c), Eoin Morgan, Andre Russell, Pat Cummins, Shivam Mavi, Kuldeep Yadav, Varun Chakravarthy, Kamlesh Nagarkoti
Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Jos Buttler(w), Steven Smith(c), Sanju Samson, Rahul Tewatia, Robin Uthappa, Riyan Parag, Jofra Archer, Tom Curran, Shreyas Gopal, Ankit Rajpoot, Jaydev Unadkat
Rajasthan Royals have won the toss and have opted to field.
Having won 10 games each against each other, nothing separates these two sides. While KKR currently enjoy a better record (4-1) when one looks at the last five games these two sides have played, RR have come out on top in these two teams’ last meeting.
Sanju Samson has been amongst the protagonists of Rajasthan Royals’ campaign so far with knocks of 74 and 85 runs against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) and Kings XI Punjab (KXIP) respectively. But what was he busy with this summer?
espite registering the highest-ever successful run chase in IPL history in their previous match, Rajasthan will not find it easy against Kolkata, who showcased a brilliant display of bowling in their last match. KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik used as many as seven bowling options with Shivam Mavi, Kuldeep Yadav, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, and Andre Russell bowling two overs each. With mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy providing similar control to that of Sunil Narine, Kolkata will be a tough side.
Rajasthan Royals look like a deadly outfit this time around with domestic talents like Sanju Samson and Rahul Tewatia stealing the spotlight from captain Steve Smith. Can Kolkata stop the juggernaut? But before that, here's some recap...
RR vs KKR Preview: Kolkata’s batting firepower faces stern test against Rajasthan
RR's Last Match: Rahul Tewatia turns Superman to script record win against Punjab
KKR's Last Match: Shubman Gill guides Kolkata to an emphatic win over Hyderabad
Hello and welcome to the live commentary of the Match 12 of IPL 2020 between an in-form Rajasthan Royals (RR) and an opportunist Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Dubai. Toss update and team news will be out around 7 PM. Do stick around!