Kolkata Knight Riders have been phenomenal in the second phase of the Indian Premier League. Out of 7 matches, they emerged victoriously in 5 and have made their hopes stronger to qualify for the playoffs after their victory against Rajasthan at Sharjah Cricket Stadium. KKR defeated RR by 86 runs and it was a dominant win in their last game of the group stage.
The match
Rajasthan opted to field, and it was a slow start by the KKR batters. In the power play, they were only able to score in the 30s. Though considering the Sharjah pitch it was normal. The KKR batters slowly started to gear up and started to make run fast.
At the end of 20 overs, they were able to score171 runs by the loss of 4 wickets. RR bowlers gave a tough fight to their opposition batters else, the score would have been more. Everyone among the KKR batters played their part including Shubhman Gill who scored a half-century of 56 from 44 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes.
In reply, KKR bowlers were furious in their job and picked up wickets from the very first over. No RR batter could stand for long except Rahul Tewatia, who scored 44 of 36 balls including 5 fours and 2 sixes. Youngstar Shivam Mavi bowled an excellent spell where he picked up 4 wickets in 3.1 overs conceding 21 runs. Also, Ferguson picked up 3 wickets, along with Varun Chakravarthy and Shakib Al Hasan picking up 1 each.
Hope for KKR to qualify for the playoffs
With this win, KKR gained 2 more points, picking up 14 points overall, making their way to the playoffs easier. They have a present run rate of +0.587, and their only contender in this race to the finals is Mumbai Indians. MI at present has a run rate of -0.048, and they have their next match against SRH. To qualify for the playoffs they need to defeat their opposition by a humongous margin that might have never happened before. This has made KKR’s hopes for playoffs much stronger.
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