Kolkata Knight Riders beat Rajasthan Royals by 86 runs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) at Sharjah yesterday to seal the fourth and final playoffs spot in the Championship, that is unless Mumbai Indians pull off a miracle win in their match against Sunrisers Hyderabad at Abu Dhabi today.
On another Sharjah pitch with treacherous low bounce, Kolkata Knight Riders enjoyed the perfect match yesterday. They had a good opening stand of 79 between Shubman Gill (56 off 44 balls with 4 fours and 2 sixes), and Venkatesh Iyer (38 off 35 balls including 3 fours and 2 sixes) to ensure that they scored a competitive total of 171-4 off 20 overs after being sent in to bat first. Their middle order batsmen supported with a series of cameos to lift them to the season’s best total at Abu Dhabi.
Kolkata Knight Riders then put in a ruthless bowling performance to keep Rajasthan Royals to 85 off 16.1 overs, their second successive sub-100 total. Fast bowler, Shivam Mavi (4-21) and fast bowler, Lockie Ferguson (3-18) bowled outstandingly.
The final scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 171-4 off 20 overs, Rajasthan Royals 85 off 16.1 overs.
Mumbai Indians have a Net Run Rate of 0.480 as against Sunrisers Hyderabad’s Net Run Rate of -0.048, and will have to win today’s match by a ridiculously wide margin. today to bridge that gap.
