IPL 2018, RR vs KKR: 5 reasons why Rajasthan lost

The 15th match of the IPL was a clash between Ajinkya Rahane led Rajasthan Royals and Dinesh Karthik led Kolkata Knight Riders. Both teams had registered 2 wins each and were looking to remove Sunrisers from the top of the table.

KKR won the toss and elected to field first. Rajasthan began well but once Rahane was out, their innings failed to get going. Losing wickets at regular intervals, Rajasthan struggled to a score of 160 off their allotted 20 overs.

In reply, Kolkata began well courtesy some excellent hitting by Sunil Narine and Robin Uthappa, despite losing Chris Lynn in the first over. Once both of them fell, some responsible batting from Nitish Rana and Dinesh Karthik ensured that Kolkata would go to register their 3rd win of the tournament.

Let us have a look at the 5 reasons why the winning streak of the Rajasthan Royals at the Sawai Man Singh stadium came to an end.

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#1 D’Arcy Short struggles, again

Rajasthan Royals had shelled out big bucks for D’Arcy Short at the IPL auctions this year but the powerful left-hander from Australia has so far failed to impress. Today as well, Short failed to get going, striking it at less than a run a ball in the powerplay overs.

He was at sixes and sevens against KKR’s spinners, failing to read which way the ball was spinning. His laborious knock of 44 runs of 43 balls sucked all the momentum provided by Rahane at the top. Looking at his struggles, Royals’s team management would be tempted to try Henrich Klaasen in the next game.

#2 Trial by spin

It is no secret that KKR’s bowling unit is heavily dependent on spinners. Out of their top 5 bowling options, 3 are spinners. Today as well, Dinesh Karthik went all out against Rajasthan with his spinners. Out of the 20 overs, a massive 14 were bowled by the spinners.

Although Narine had an off day, the likes of Kuldeep Yadav and Piyush Chawla more than made up for it. The part-time off-spin of Nitish Rana also yielded success as he conceded just 11 runs off his 2 overs and picked up the crucial wickets of Rahane and Short in the process.

#3 Karthik’s moment of magic

Dinesh Karthik is one of the most improved cricketers around. Apart from his hitting, Karthik has also improved a lot behind the stumps. Rahane had got Rajasthan off to a good start as the Royals reached 48 for no loss after the first 6 overs.

Rahane was looking in supreme touch but his innings was cut short by some brilliant piece of wicket-keeping by Karthik. Rahane looking to take the attack to the part-time offie Nitish Rana stepped out of his crease. Rana shortened his length and the ball stuck Rahane on his pads.

Karthik moved swiftly to his left, picked up the ball and fired a backhanded flick on to the stumps. Rahane took it easy and was found short of his crease. It was a pivotal moment in the match.

#4 Uthappa’s sumptuous knock

After struggling for form in the first 3 matches of this year’s IPL, Robin Uthappa finally got going in the last match against Delhi. Uthappa carried his good form in today’s game as well.

Knowing that his team was not chasing a big target, Robin began cautiously by taking singles and rotating the strike. He then took the attack to the opposition by smashing Jaydev Unadkat for 3 fours in the 5th over of the chase.

He was especially harsh on the spinners, tonking them for 2 giant sixes in the midwicket region. His knock of 48 runs brought the game firmly in KKR’s grasp.

#5 An off day for Rajasthan’s seamers

Rajasthan possess a complete pace attack. Unadkat’s cutters, Kulkarni’s swing, and Laughlin’s death bowling ensure that they can compete on any track. To complement that, they have a hit-the-deck kind of bowler in Stokes.

However, none of them could do anything of note in today’s game. Defending a modest score, Rajasthan needed their bowlers to step up. Unfortunately, that did not happen as the Pacers failed to pick up any wicket between themselves.

Unadkat and Kulkarni went for more than 50 runs off their 5 combined overs. Rajasthan has invested a lot in Unadkat and would be hoping that the Saurashtra seamer would come up with the goods in the coming games.