IMAGES from the IPL match played between Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur on Thursday.
Yashasvi Jaiswal continued his sensational run in the IPL by smashing the fastest fifty in tournament history as Rajasthan Royals cruised to a nine-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders to resurrect their play-off hopes in Kolkata on Thursday.
Records tumbled at the Eden Gardens as Yuzvendra Chahal became IPL's leading wicket-taker before completing a brilliant 4/25 to restrict KKR to a below-par 149/8.
On a day when KKR batters struggled to time the ball, 21-year-old Jaiswal showed the way by bringing up fastest fifty in the history of IPL in just 13 balls, bettering the previous record held by KL Rahul and Pat Cummins (14 balls each).
Jaiswal remained two runs shy of a century (98 from 47 balls), a knock studded with 12 fours and five sixes as RR cantered to victory 13.1 overs.
Samson gave fine support to the southpaw with a 48 not out from 29 balls as the duo shared an unbroken match-winning partnership of 121 runs off just 69 balls.
The win with 41 balls to spare also took them to third spot (12 points from 12 matches), giving a massive boost to their net run-rate (0.0633) as the play-off race heats up.
It is all but over for KKR who slipped to seventh place (10 points, 12 matches).
Jaiswal made his intentions clear in the first over itself when KKR skipper Nitish Rana made a bold move to bowl himself.
Wasting no time, Jaiswal seized on the opportunity and smashed Rana for two sixes and two fours in a row in a 26-run over.
He hit Shardul Thakur for a hat-trick of fours to race to his fifty in the third over itself as RR virtually sealed the issue scoring 78/1 inside powerplay.
To pile on the KKR misery, Sunil Narine dropped an easy catch when Samson was on 16.
The skipper then came on his own when he smoked Jharkhand left-arm spinner Anukul Roy for three sixes in a 20-run over.
Yuzvendra Chahal became IPL's leading wicket-taker before completing a brilliant four-wicket haul as Rajasthan Royals restricted Kolkata Knight Riders to a below-par 149 for eight in Kolkata on Thursday.
On a day RR dished out an eye-grabbing fielding display, Chahal grabbed two wickets in three balls when he dismissed KKR topscorer Venkatesh Iyer (57; 42b) and Shardul Thakur (1) in the middle overs before ending with figures of 4-0-25-4.
Chahal (187 wickets) eclipsed Dwayne Bravo (183) to become the all-time leading wicket-taker of the IPL when he struck off his second ball to dismiss KKR skipper Rana (22; 17b).
He ended his spell dismissing the inform Rinku Singh (16) to also become the leading wicket-taker this season with 21 wickets.
Put in to bat on a dry Eden wicket, KKR frontline batters came a cropper, as Venkatesh held the fort and returned to form with a fighting fifty.
From being two off 12 balls, Venkatesh paced his innings well and raced to a 39-ball fifty. But he slashed a wide delivery from Chahal to be brilliantly caught by Trent Boult.
Andre Russell (10; 10b) failed to make it big after he was promoted to No 5 and fell to KM Asif.
KKR, who were 58/2 after nine overs, looked to seize the momentum after taking a strategic time out in the 10th over.
Venkatesh finally broke free smashing Ashwin for back-to-back sixes, while Rana ended the over with an elegant four through extra-cover to take them to 76/2 at the midway mark.
KKR looked on course for a decent total before Chahal triggered a mid-innings collapse.
Earlier in the innings, two spectacular catches inside the power play set the tone for the Royals as KKR once again had a terrible start to be 37/2 in the first six overs.
Both came in Trent Boult's successive overs as the Kiwi left-arm pacer returned with 2/15 from his three overs in his comeback match.
First, it was Shimron Hetmyer who took a blinder to dismiss Jason Roy in the third over.
Running from deep square leg, not only did Hetmyer manage to time his jump to perfection, he balanced his body from touching the rope in a split a second.
It seemed to have rubbed off on Sandeep Sharma who out of nowhere took a diving catch at mid-off to send back a dangerous-looking Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the fifth over.
Venkatesh dragged the team further behind playing a Test-match like innings.
He swung his bat hard, stepped out but nothing seemed to be coming off from his bat, while Royals gave it all in the field.
RR fielders were also brilliant on the field and saved at least 15-20 runs.
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