The Kolkata Knight Riders spinners proved too wily for the Rajasthan Royals batters, helping the side set up a seven-wicket win during their return leg fixture at the Wankhede Stadium on Monday.
All-rounder Anukul Roy shone with the ball in his very first outing in purple-and-gold, finishing with figures of 4-0-28-1 as KKR finally got its campaign back on track after five straight losses.
Miserly
Sunil Narine was impressive as usual — albeit not on the field — conceding just 19.
After Shreyas Iyer’s men chose to bowl, Umesh Yadav provided the breakthrough with a blinder off his own bowling to send Devdutt Padikkal back to the dugout.
Jos Buttler struggled against Narine. Along with skipper Sanju Samson (54, 49b, 7x4, 1x6), the English opener only managed to take Royals to 38 in the PowerPlay.
Snaring the big fish
Tim Southee snared the big fish in the ninth over. Buttler, looking to break the shackles, flat-batted to a leaping Shivam Mavi at long-on.
Karun Nair then fell to Anukul, who smartly dragged back his length. Riyan Parag also took the long walk back shortly after.
Samson, meanwhile, huffed and puffed to a fifty before skying a full-length delivery to deep midwicket.
Shimron Hetmyer (27, 13b, 1x4, 2x6) breathed some much-needed life into the innings as 30 runs were scored in the last two overs.
Chasing 153, Knight Riders openers Aaron Finch and B. Indrajith didn’t survive long.
Finch dragged Kuldeep Sen’s back-of-a-length delivery onto the stumps, while Indrajith miscued one to R. Ashwin at fine leg.
Knight Riders soon found itself in a familiar situation at 32 for two in six overs.
The spin duo
Royals had in their ranks two of the three bowlers who have taken the most wickets against the Knight Riders — Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal.
The duo tried to check the flow of runs further. But Shreyas (34, 32b, 3x4, 1x6) and Nitish Rana (48 n.o., 37b, 3x4, 2x6) kept the scoreboard ticking.
Rana, who hasn’t been dismissed by Ashwin in the IPL, took on the off-spinner in the 11th over, clobbering him for two fours and a six.
The 60-run partnership off 43 balls came to an end when Samson confidently went for a referral after a wide call.
UltraEdge’s call
Although it seemed Shreyas had played and missed, UltraEdge suggested otherwise.
Rinku Singh (42, 23b, 6x4, 1x6), who walked in at 92 for three in 12.5 overs, was in fine touch.
With support from Rana — his contribution to the 66-run stand was only 17 — the target never looked big enough.
