Match summary


Left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav starred with an impressive four-wicket spell as he set up Kolkata Knight Riders to a comfortable six-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals in their Indian Premier League match on Tuesday.


Kuldeep (4/20) flummoxed Rajasthan Royals batsmen with his wrist spin as the visitors were bowled out for 142 from 19 overs after being sent into bat. 


KKR chased down the small target with two overs to spare with Chris Lynn top-scoring with a 42-ball 45 while skipper Dinesh Karthik remaining not out on 41 off 31 deliveries.


Karthik took his side home with a six as KKR reached 145 for 4 in 18 overs. 


Sunil Narine played a typical but brief explosive innings of 21 off just seven balls at the top of the innings to lay the foundation of the successful run chase.


Except for Narine, all the KKR batsmen chose to bat in business like fashion, shunning extravagance and looking for loose deliveries for boundaries.


With the win, KKR kept themselves in the hunt for a play-offs spot with 14 points from 13 matches as they remained at the third spot. Rajasthan Royals, meanwhile, stuck on 12 points from 13 matches and they will now find it difficult to make it to the play-offs though theoretically still in contention.


Opener Narine gave KKR a flying start taking K Gowhtam to cleaners with 21 runs from the first over with two fours and two sixes.


Ben Stokes claimed two wickets -- that of Narine and Robin Uthappa (4) -- in successive overs en route to his superb 3/15 as KKR looked in a spot of bother with 69/3, requiring 74 from 70 balls.


But Lynn remained steady and cut down his strokes to anchor the innings. He and Karthik batted sensibly to put together 48 runs before the Australian became Stokes' third victim but by then the equation had come down to a simple 26 from 28 balls. 


Earlier, Kuldeep's magical four-wicket spell flummoxed Rajasthan Royals as KKR brilliantly turned it around with a superb bowling show to bundle out the visitors for 142.


Sent in, RR were looking ominous at 59 for no loss after four overs, already their highest inside the powerplay, before the home side triggered a batting collapse on the visitors in the middle overs by taking six wickets for 31 runs.


With none of their middle-order batsmen showing any fight, it would have been worse for RR but No. 8 Jaydev Unadkat struck 26 from 18 balls (3x4, 1x6) before Prasidh Krishna dismissed him to end the innings in the 19th over.


The India chinaman spinner had a nightmarish outing in their last game here, leaking 43 runs in three overs against Mumbai Indians but it was a different evening today as he turned it around with the season's best show of 4/20.


Shouldering extra responsibility in the absence of an injured Piyush Chawla (side strain), Yadav's magic arm completely exposed RR's frailty in tackling spin, as his four-for included the prized wicket of Jos Buttler (39 from 22 balls; 5x4, 2x6).


Coming in the eighth over, Kuldeep ran through his four overs and took a wicket in each of them to help KKR bounce back from a poor start. 


Kuldeep started off by cleaning up RR skipper Ajinkya Rahane who continued his woeful form to get out for 11 and in the next over he denied Buttler a record sixth straight fifty. Buttler too attempted a reverse sweep like Rahane but holed out at third man by Javon Searles.


It was Andre Russell (2/13 from three overs) who used his short-pitch ball strategy to full effect to dismiss Rahul Tripathi for 27 (15 balls; 4x4, 1x6).


Thereafter, KKR seized the momentum riding on Yadav and Sunil Narine's tidy show (1/29).


Earlier, Mavi almost dismissed Tripathi first ball with an unplayable delivery in a superb first over that yielded just two runs. But what unfolded from the second over was a series of boundaries and sixes from Buttler and Tripathi in a run sequence that read 6-4-4-4-4-6-4-4-6-4 as RR cruised to 50 in 20 balls. 


Promoted to open the innings, Tripathi turned it around against Prasidh Krishna after the probing Mavi over, smashing the seamer for a six, followed by a hat-trick of boundaries. 


Mavi came to bowl in the third over, and it was time for the in-form Buttler to explode with a series of boundaries and sixes as the youngster bled 28 runs.


RR batting summary


Kuldeep Yadav's magical four-wicket spell flummoxed Rajasthan Royals as Kolkata Knight Riders brilliantly turned it around with a superb bowling show to bundle out the visitors for 142 in their IPL fixture here today.


Sent in, RR were looking ominous at 59 for no loss after four overs, already their highest inside the powerplay after Buttler once again gave a flying start, before the home side triggered a batting collapse on the visitors in the middle overs by taking six wickets for 31 runs.






With none of their middle-order batsmen showing any fight, it would have been worse for RR but No. 8 Jaydev Unadkat struck 26 from 18 balls (3x4, 1x6) before Prasidh Krishna dismissed him to end the innings in the 19th over.


The India chinaman spinner had a nightmarish outing in their last game here, leaking 43 runs in three overs against Mumbai Indians but it was a different evening today as he turned it around with the season's best show of 4/20.


Shouldering extra responsibility in the absence of an injured Piyush Chawla (side strain), Yadav's magic arm completely exposed RR's frailty in tackling spin, as his four-for included the prized wicket of Jos Buttler (39 from 22 balls; 5x4, 2x6).


Coming in the eighth over, Kuldeep ran through his four overs and took a wicket in each of them to help KKR bounce back from a poor start.


Kuldeep started off by cleaning up RR skipper Ajinkya Rahane who continued his woeful form to get out for 11 and in the next over he denied Buttler a record sixth straight fifty.


Buttler too attempted a reverse sweep like Rahane but holed out at third man by Javon Searles.


It was Andre Russell (2/13 from three overs) who used his short-pitch ball strategy to full effect to dismiss Rahul Tripathi for 27 (15 balls; 4x4, 1x6).


Thereafter, KKR seized the momentum riding on Yadav and Sunil Narine's tidy show (1/29).


Earlier, Mavi almost dismissed Tripathi first ball with an unplayable delivery in a superb first over that yielded just two runs.


But what unfolded from the second over was a series of boundaries and sixes from Buttler and Tripathi in a run sequence that read 6-4-4-4-4-6-4-4-6-4 as RR cruised to 50 in 20 balls.


Promoted to open the innings, Tripathi turned it around against Prasidh Krishna after the probing Mavi over, smashing the seamer for a six, followed by a hat-trick of boundaries.


Mavi came to bowl in the third over, and it was time for the in-form Buttler to explode with a series of boundaries and sixes as the youngster bled 28 runs.


Toss and team news


Dinesh Karthik has won the toss and opted to bowl first against Rajasthan Royals at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata.


KKR Playing XI: Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa, Andre Russell, Dinesh Karthik, Nitish Rana, Shubman Gill, Shivam Mavi, J Searles, Kuldeep Yadav, P Krishna


The hosts have one change in the team. Piyush Chawla will miss the match due to side strain. Shivam Mavi comes in.


RR Playing XI: Rahul Tripathi, Jos Buttler, Ajinkya Rahane, Sanju Samson, Ben Stokes, Stuart Binny, Jofra Archer, K Gowtham, Ish Sodhi, Jaydev Unadkat, Anureet Singh


Royals have gone in the match with three changes. Ish Sodhi, Rahul Tripathi and Anureet Singh come in. D'Arcy Short, Shreyas Gopal and Dhawal Kulkarni have been left out.


Preview


A buoyant Kolkata Knight Riders will lock horns with a charged up Rajasthan Royals in a battle for survival at the Indian Premier League T20 tournament on Tuesday.


Their fate hanging in balance, a loss in the penultimate league round match may virtually sound the death knell for one of the two teams.


It's a mad scramble for the two available play-off berths with five teams including KKR and RR, who are tied on 12 points, remaining in the hunt.


To make the competition stiffer, both the teams have picked up late momentum in the business end of the tournament.


Down after back-to-back defeats, KKR bounced back with a bang, posting the fourth highest total of the IPL -- 245/6 -- to down Kings XI Punjab by 31 runs in their last match.


From being on the verge of elimination, RR too have returned to the reckoning with a hat-trick of wins, thanks to the imperious form shown by Jos Buttler who was adjudged man-of-the-match in all the three victories.


The RR opener struck an unbeaten 94 to seal an easy seven-wicket win over Mumbai Indians last night. This was the English wicketkeeper-batsman's fifth consecutive half-century -- an IPL record jointly held with Virender Sehwag.


His scores in the last five innings read 67, 51, 82, 95*, 94* and Buttler along with allrounder Ben Stokes, who has played in different positions in the batting order, will be the two major threats for KKR.


Half of their battle will be won if the Dinesh Karthik-led side can dismiss the English duo cheaply. The skipper will look to go all out with their spin attack to exploit their weakness.


That skipper Ajinkya Rahane is in the middle of a lean patch will augur well for the KKR team who will look to conclude their last home match of the round robin league on a high.


With the Eden Gardens slated to host Eliminator and Playoff Two, KKR may have a chance to play again at home if they can finish at third or fouth position in the IPL table.


Rahane has 280 runs from 12 innings with a woeful average of 28.00 and it's high time that he returns among runs to give their batting a stability.


KKR batting, on the other hand, look a force with the likes of Sunil Narine, Dinesh Karthik and youngster Shubman Gill -- all in fine form.


Narine slammed 75 off 36 balls, while Karthik smashed a 23-ball 50 in their big total in Indore.


With his exploits with both bat and ball, Narine has emerged as the most valuable player for KKR and the Trinidadian will once again look to play a key role.


Narine's battle with Buttler will be one of the key contests of the game.


Skipper Karthik has quietly done his job in the batting and averages a healthy 46.37 (371 runs) and he too will eye a good show with the bat tomorrow.


Nothing much separates the teams in terms of head to head (7-7) count and it seems another mouth-watering contest might be on the cards.


Teams


Kolkata Knight Riders: Dinesh Karthik (c), Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Chris Lynn, Robin Uthappa, Kuldeep Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Nitish Rana, Prasidh Krishna, Shivam Mavi, Mitchell Johnson, Shubman Gill, R. Vinay Kumar, Rinku Singh, Cameron Delport, Javon Searless, Apoorv Wankhade, Ishank Jaggi, Tom Curran.


Rajasthan Royals: Ajinkya Rahane (C), Ben Stokes, Stuart Binny, Sanju Samson, Jos Buttler, Rahul Tripathi, D Arcy Short, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jofra Archer, Dhawal Kulkarni, Jaydev Unadkat, Ankit Sharma, Anureet Singh, Shreyas Gopal, Prashant Chopra, Sudhesan Midhun, Ben Laughlin, Mahipal Lomror, Aryaman Birla, Jatin Saxena, Dushmantha Chameera, Heinrich Klaasen, Ish Sodhi.