Knights win a heart-stopper
Kolkata: T20 games are made for photo-finishes and heart stoppers.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) dished one up right there with the hosts winning by one solitary run at Eden Gardens in an afternoon match.
Now on 11 points, KKR’s table position looks a lot healthier, while RR will go back to the drawing board for the next season.
KKR won the toss and elected to bat on a dry pitch that looked full of runs. But they never thought making 206 for four, would barely be enough in the face of a brave RR chase who finished on 205 for 8. The cliffhanger first. Rajasthan Royals needed 25 off the last three overs after Riyan Parag threatened to finish the game early. The Parag dream ended in the fourth ball of the 18 th over. He nailed one wide slower ball, but the fact that he dragged it from so far meant he sent it straight down the throat of Vaibhav Arora of Harshit Rana. Gone for 95 off 45 and KKR got a foot on the bus to victory. Andre Russell who showed his powers with the bat, came to bowl the penultimate over.
When the over was done, Joffrey Archer and Subham Dubey needed 22 runs in the last over. Shubham Dubey almost redeemed himself for his indifferent form throughout the season, but it was too late to cure a bad habit. With 19 needed off the last four balls, Vaibhav Arora dug one in trying to york. Dubey pulled it for a six. Vaibhav again tried a yorker and missed it to see the ball drilled to the mid-wicket boundary for four runs.
At this point, both camps were seen with their hands folded, praying. A couple of players in the dugout could not bear to watch. Eden Gardens was on its feet. Another yorker from Vaibhav turned out to be a low full toss, which Dubey swung for another 6. The sighs and hurrahs in equal measure filled the ground.
One ball and three runs. The entire KKR huddle was seen talking, making their point, and discussing what was the best ploy. They got their best fielders in and around the circle. Another yorker. This time Arora nailed it.
The only way to get runs off this was on foot. Rinku Singh, who had already saved four runs in the outfield in the last two overs, charged in and denied RR the super over. Interestingly he went for Archer in the non-striker’s end when Dubey was actually struggling and found his man short.
A collective euphoria gripped the ground as the Knights celebrated like they just brought the trophy home. RR walked away vanquished, but head held high.
Earlier, batting first Rahmanullah and Rahane made a 56-run partnership to give KKR a bright start.
Ramanullah 35 off 25 and Rahane 30 off 24 did their part. It was left to the young Anghkrish Raghuvanshi and Russell to take things forward. The youngster did not disappoint hitting another classy 44 studded with five boundaries. Russell promoted up the order found his feet in and then smashed six sixes and four boundaries enroute his 25 ball 57. A belligerent finish from Rinku Singh meant KKR had crossed the 200 mark.
For the Royals it has been a season of – “what ifs?”. Other than Yaswasvi Jaiswal (34) and Hetmyer (29) none of the players showed the patience, skill or maturity to stay till the end and get the game over the line.
In the end it was a lone battle from Captain Ryan Parag who made a a 45 ball 95 and singlehandedly threatened to take the match away from the Knights. With eight sixes and six fours it was a spectacle, only on the losing side.
Moen Ali, Harshit Rana A Varun Chakraborty showed their bowling skills as KKR live on to fight another day.
