Images from the IPL 2022 match between Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders, at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, on Monday.
Kolkata Knight Riders outclassed Rajasthan Royals by seven wickets to snap their five-match losing streak in IPL 2022, at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai, on Monday.
KKR's bowlers came up with a disciplined performance to restrict Royals to 152 for 5 after opting to bowl and chased down the target with five balls to spare to return to winning ways.
Nitish Rana scored an unbeaten 48 from 37 balls to steer KKR home. He received good support from Rinku Singh, who hit a quickfire 42 from 23 balls, as the duo added 66 runs for the fourth wicket to thwart Royals' hopes.
Chasing 153 for victory, KKR were dealt an early blow as Aaron Finch was bowled by pacer Kuldeep Sen for 4.
Baba Indrajith (15) was hurried into the pull shot by Prasidh Krishna and was caught at fine leg as KKR found themselves in trouble on 32 for 2 in the sixth over.
Captain Shreyas Iyer scored a steady 34 from 32 balls to get KKR back on track in the company of Rana.
Rana broke the shackles in the 11th over, the left-hander hitting Ravichandran Ashwin for a two fours and a six off successive deliveries.
Iyer slammed Yuzvendra Chahal over long-on to raise the 50-run stand before the KKR skipper was caught down the leg side off Trent Boult in the 13th over.
Rinku got off the mark with a four before lifting pacer Sen fine on the leg side for a six.
With 31 needed from three overs, Rinku put KKR in control of the run-chase by hitting Yuzvendra Chahal for successive boundaries, to get 13 from the 18th over.
Rinku hit Krishna for another couple of fours in the 19th over as the Royals pacer also gifted KKR a couple of wides to concede 17 runs in his final over.
Rana ended things in grand style by smashing Sen for a six in the final over, to take KKR to an important victory.
Earlier, Sanju Samson hit a half-century but Rajasthan Royals were restricted to 152 for 5 after a disciplined performance by the KKR bowlers.
For Royals, Samson's 54 off 49 balls was the saving grace, as wickets tumbled at regular intervals after they were put in to bat.
Shimron Hetymer smashed 27 not out off 13 balls in the death overs to take Royals beyond the 150-run mark.
Royals lost opener Devdutt Padikkal (2) cheaply as pacer Umesh Yadav took a sharp catch off his own bowling in the third over.
Samson, who hit seven boundaries and a six, and Jos Buttler steadied Royals after the early wicket putting on 48 runs for the second wicket.
KKR kept things tight in the Powerplay by checking the flow of boundaries.
Samson and and Buttler broke free in the fifth over, which went for 15 runs, as Umesh was hit for three boundaries.
Samson lofted Anukul Roy for a six over the off-side but Royals managed just 38 runs in the six overs of Powerplay.
Tim Southee dealt Royals a big blow when he got the in-form Buttler caught at long-on after a slow 22 from 25 balls.
Karun Nair (13) and Riyan Parag (19) also failed to carry on after getting off to starts. Samson was caught in the deep off Mavi as Royals slipped to 115/5 in the 18th over.
Hetmyer hit Southee for two sixes in a row to score 20 from the 19th over but Mavi did well to give away just 10 from the final over.
The West Indian left-hander put on a quickfire stand of 37 runs from 18 balls with Ravichandran Ashwin (6 not out) to push Royals beyond the 150-run mark.
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