IPL 2019: Kolkata Knight Riders move to the top of the table with 8-wicket victory against Rajasthan Royals

Kolkata Knight Riders produced a dominant performance to beat Rajasthan Royals by 8 wickets, registering their 4th win of the tournament in the process.

Kolkata Knight Riders captain Dinesh Karthik won the toss and decided to field first. KKR got off to a great start as Prasidh Krishna dismissed Royals captain Ajinkya Rahane for 5. Piyush Chawla, Sunil Narine, and Kuldeep Yadav then restricted the run flow and did not allow the Royals batsmen to score freely. At the end of 6 overs, Rajasthan Royals were 28 for 1.

After the power play, Jos Buttler and Steve Smith put pressure on the KKR bowlers with some lovely strokes. Harry Gurney though struck soon enough, dismissing Jos Buttler for 37 off 34 balls. Rahul Tripathi was then dismissed for 6 as Rajasthan began to slip.

Despite Steve Smith's half-century, the Knight Riders restricted Rajasthan Royals to just 139 in 20 overs.

Chasing 140, Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn provided a quick start. Narine was dropped by Rahul Tripathi while Lynn too received his fair share of luck early on. At the end of 6 overs, the two openers had taken KKR to 65.

After the power play, Shreyas Gopal dismissed Sunil Narine for 47 off 25 balls. However, Robin Uthappa came to the crease and began to play some lovely strokes. Lynn reached his fifty off 31 balls but was soon dismissed by Gopal.

Uthappa and Shubman Gill then added 26 runs for the 3rd wicket to take KKR to a comfortable victory; their fourth of the season.

The victory also moved Karthik's side to the top of the IPL points table, while the Royals remain rooted to the seventh spot with just one win from five matches thus far.

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