Kolkata Knight Riders first scripted a fine batting recovery through captain Dinesh Karthik and Andre Russell, and then put up a clinical bowling performance to beat Rajasthan Royals by 25 runs in the Eliminator of the Vivo-IPL at the Eden Gardens here on Wednesday.
Asked to bat by Royals, Knight Riders scored 169 for seven before restricting the former to 144 for four. KKR will meet Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 2 at the same venue on Friday.
Royals made a breezy start as Rahane promoted himself to open the innings and worked up a 47-run partnership with Rahul Tripathi. Rahane, when on 14, survived a scare when he was given out leg-before to an appeal from leg-spinner Piyush Chawla in the third over, but a successful review came to the Royals’ captain’s aid.
Chawla had success in the sixth over getting Tripathi, who failed to tackle a googly and ended up spooning it for the bowler to take it on the follow-through.
The KKR captain Karthik introduced his arsenal of spinners, but Rahane and Sanju Samson put their shoulders to the wheel to work out a partnership of 62 (54 balls) for the second wicket.
Rahane constructed a responsible 46 (41b, 4x4, 1x6) while Samson was more aggressive, hitting two huge sixes and three boundaries. The duo took on off-spinner Sunil Narine who conceded 39 runs without any success in his four overs.
Narine’s expensiveness was compensated somewhat by chinaman bowler Kuldeep Yadav and leg-spinner Chawla. The two did their job fairly well, picking up the three wickets to stifle Royal’s chase.
Kuldeep, who had wrecked Royals in the league match at the same venue with four for 20, came to torment the visitor again by ending Rahane’s stay in the 15th over.
Chawla picked up Samson (50) in the 17th over to ensure the elimination of the visitor, which dearly missed the presence of a finisher.
Inspired resurgence
Earlier, Dinesh Karthik (52, 38b, 4x4, 2x6) and Andre Russell (49 n.o., 25b, 3x4, 5x6) inspired a resurgence as Knight Riders weathered a shaky start to post 169 for seven.
Sunil Narine, who had provided the pyrotechnics in the the PowerPlay in KKR’s previous three wins, faltered against spin.
Narine gave the spectators reason to cheer by beginning with a boundary off the first delivery bowled by off-spinner K. Gowtham. But the celebrations came to naught immediately.
Gowtham, quick to read the designs of the batsman, shortened the length of his next delivery. The West Indian all-rounder danced down the track, only to be beaten by the spinning ball and wicketkeeper Heinrich Klaasen did the rest.
Robin Uthappa became Gowtham’s second victim in the third over when the bowler snared him with a cleverly tossed-up delivery. Uthappa, trying to work the ball towards leg, got a top-edge that was easily pouched by the bowler himself. When Nitish Rana surrendered his wicket in the fourth over, KKR was tottering at three for 24.
After Chris Lynn departed in the eighth over, with the score reading 51, captain Karthik started the recovery process in partnership with rookie Shubman Gill.
The two put on 55 runs off 38 balls as Karthik, showing good touch, found the boundary at regular intervals. Gill matched his skipper with some solid hitting. The two were most severe on leg-spinner Shreyas Gopal who gave away 20 runs in the 14th over.
After Gill (28) departed in the 15th over, Russell joined Karthik and some lusty hitting by the big West Indian helped Knight Riders to a challenging total.
