Kolkata (West Bengal): Kolkata Knight Riders are now just one win away from qualifying for Indian Premier League’s playoffs after they defeated Rajasthan Royals by six wickets, at Eden Gardens stadium in Kolkata on Tuesday.
The KKR chased down the target of 143 with two overs to spare and six wickets in hand. Dinesh Karthik-led team started off brilliantly as their opener Sunil Narine (21) hammered 20 runs in the first over itself, hitting two sixes and two fours.
However, it could not take his bamboozling knock further as he felled to a Ben Stokes delivery in the second over.
Chris Lynn (45) then took the reins of the innings after the departure of Narine.
Though he did not get much support from the other end as Robina Uthappa (4), too, did not stay for long in the middle for long, the Australian batsman, first with Nitish Rana and then with Karthik, took the team past 100 in the 14th over.
He, however, could not finish the game as he too got out to Stokes delivery in the 16th over.
But, by that time, KKR was at a comfortable position needing only 27 from 28 balls.
Karthik (41) and Andre Russell (10) then took the team home with 12 deliveries to spare.
Earlier, RR made a rollicking start.
They were put into bat first and, initially, Ajinkya Rahane-led side made a good use of the opportunity as they slammed 63 runs in first five overs. However, when Rahul Tripathi (27) departed in the fifth over, the KKR bowlers had their foot in the door and kept knocking off RR batsmen at regular intervals.
KKR’s chinaman Kuldeep Yadav was declared Man of the Match for scalping four wickets from his quota of four overs. (ANI)