Pacer claims 4-23 as Rajasthan Royals stifle KKR to 133-9; skipper Samson stars with unbeaten 42 runs in six-wicket win
RR pacer Chris Morris celebrates a wicket against KKR at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday. Pics/BCCI; IPL
Fine show with the ball by all-rounder Chris Morris (4-23 off four overs) followed by a steady knock by skipper Sanju Samson (41-ball 42 not out) saw Rajasthan Royals beat Kolkata Knight Riders by six wickets in an IPL-14 encounter at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday.
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Morris accounted for Andre Russell (9), Dinesh Karthik (25), Pat Cummins (10) and Shivam Mavi (5) as KKR managed just 133-9 off their 20 overs. In reply, RR chased down the target with seven balls to spare (18.5 overs).
Earlier, Royals pacers, who were smart with change of pace, stifled the KKR batsmen who could not find a way to deal with it after being put in to bat. Morris, the most expensive player in the IPL auction history, proved his worth with a four-wicket haul.
RR skipper Sanju Samson
The other pacers, Jaydev Unadkat (1-25), Chetan Sakariya (1-31) and Mustafizur Rahman (1-22), were also impressive. KKR were not able to find rhythm in their underwhelming innings. The highly-rated Shubman Gill (11) disappointed yet again.
He was dropped before his uncomfortable stay in the middle finally ended with a run out off a brilliant direct hit from Jos Buttler. The Royals pacers were impressive with their variations and did not offer the batsmen any freebies in the powerplay as KKR laboured to 25 for one in six overs.
It became 45 for two in the eighth over when opener Nitish Rana (22) made room to cut a wide ball off Sakariya but the extra bounce led to his downfall as he ended up edging it to the wicketkeeper.
Skipper Eoin Morgan sent Sunil Narine ahead of himself to give the innings a much-needed boost but it did not work with the West Indian departing after hitting one boundary, leaving KKR at 55 for three in 10 overs.
KKR’s troubles worsened after Morgan got run out without facing a ball following a bad mix-up with Rahul Tripathi (36 off 26). Their most destructive batsman Andre Russell had to wait till the 16th over to get into the middle with the innings not going anywhere at 94 for five.
Dinesh Karthik (25) came up with some badly-needed boundaries in his bid to improve the scoring rate. Morris removed both Russell and Karthik in the same over which allowed Royals to limit KKR to under 140.
Brief scores
KKR 133-9 in 20 overs (R Tripathi 36, D Karthik 25; C Morris 4-23) lost to RR 134-4 in 18.5 overs (S Samson 42*; V Chakravarthy 2-32) by 6 wkts
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