IPL 2018, KKR vs RR: 4 unnoticed things from the game

Today was a crunch game in the IPL as the Kolkata Knight Riders took on the Rajasthan Royals at the Eden Gardens. Both teams were tied at 12 points and were looking for a victory in order to push their claim for a playoffs spot.

Dinesh Karthik won the toss and inserted the opposition in to bat. Rajasthan got off to a stupendous start as the openers smashed 63 runs of the first 5 overs. However, an astonishing collapse occurred as the Royals lost their remaining 9 wickets for just 79 runs.

In reply, Kolkata got off to a stuttering start as Ben Stokes dismissed both Sunil Narine and Robin Uthappa cheaply. But a composed 48 run partnership between Chris Lynn and Dinesh Karthik got them closer to the target.

In the end, the Knight Riders cruised home with 12 balls to spare. Sportskeeda takes a look at 4 things that the fans might have missed in today’s game.

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#1 Career-best figures in IPL for Kuldeep

Kuldeep came into the attack when the Rajasthan Royals were coasting along. The scorecard read 74/1 after the first 7 overs. Thereafter, Kuldeep delivered a dream spell that turned the match right on its head. In his very first over, he disturbed the stumps of Royals captain Ajinkya Rahane who tried to reverse sweep him.

In his next over, he got the huge wicket of Jos Buttler who was caught at backward point. Kuldeep wasn’t done there as he outfoxed Stuart Binny with a googly in his next over who was caught short of the crease when Karthik broke the stumps. In his last over, he got the big fish Ben Stokes. Kuldeep’s final figures read 4/20 which are his best figures in IPL.

#2 Karthik’s excellent review

The game was nicely in the balance after the first 10 overs as Rajasthan scored 92 runs for the loss of 3 wickets. Dinesh Karthik then threw the ball to Sunil Narine in a bid to pick up more wickets.

On the third delivery of the over, Sanju Samson tried to pull but the ball skidded through and hit him on his back leg. The on-field umpire Anil Chaudhary gave not out but Karthik thought otherwise and reviewed straight away. His call was vindicated as the ball tracker suggested that the ball was hitting the stumps.

It was a crucial moment in the match as Sanju Samson has been amongst the runs and his departure opened the floodgates for the Kolkata bowlers.

#3 Boundaries galore at the top

Rajasthan made a change at the top by sending the last season hero Rahul Tripathi to open the innings. Tripathi was lucky as he was put down by Nitish Rana on the very first ball of the match. Only 3 runs came off the first 8 balls and Rajasthan was in a desperate need of some boundaries.

What followed was pure carnage as the duo of Tripathi and Buttler smashed the next 10 balls to the fence. First, Tripathi smashed the youngster Prasidh Krishna for a six and 3 consecutive fours. In the next over, Buttler smashed 28 runs of Shivam Mavi which included 4 fours and 2 sixes. The scorecard read 6,4,4,4,4,6,4,4,6,4. 10 boundaries off 10 balls is a record in the IPL for most consecutive boundaries.

#4 Rahane’s struggling innings

The captain Ajinkya Rahane came into bat when the Royals were cruising along. The openers had smashed 63 runs of the first 5 overs when he came into bat. Rahane had the simple task of rotating the strike and playing the sheet anchor role.

However, Rahane got stuck at the crease and wasn’t able to give the strike to Buttler. His innings culminated with an ugly looking reverse sweep which he failed to connect and was clean bowled by Kuldeep Yadav. Rahane’s struggling innings sucked all the momentum out of Rajasthan’s innings and brought Kolkata back in the match.