Shivam Mavi picked four while Lockie Ferguson scalped three wickets as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) thrashed Rajasthan Royals by 86 runs in their Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter here at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) scored 171/4 and then folded Rajasthan Royals for 85/10 in 16.1 overs. With this win, KKR have consolidated the fourth spot with 14 points. Chasing 172, Rajasthan Royals got off to the worst possible start and never really recovered as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
In powerplay, Rajasthan Royals scored 17 runs for four wickets and the side never really looked like they were comfortable in the chase.
In the end, the Sanju Samson-led side were folded for 85 runs in the 17th over.
Earlier, Shubman Gill smashed his second successive half-century as KKR scored 171/4 against Rajasthan Royals.
This is also the highest score at Sharjah in the IPL 2021. It was a combined batting effort by KKR batsmen after Gill and Venkatesh Iyer gave the side a decent start
Meanwhile, Chennai Super Kings (CSK) skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni feels the side needs to tune up “slightly” in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 ahead of the playoffs.
Skipper KL Rahul led from the front as Punjab Kings (PBKS) kept their playoff hopes alive after defeating CSK by six wickets on Thursday. CSK has lost its last three games and as the team goes into the playoffs, Dhoni wants the players to be in the groove.
“You have to cope (when it comes to mental or skill aspect) up with that. We had played very good cricket to reach the playoff stages. We had a few bad games two out of three and one we felt like we could have a comeback and that’s part and parcel in leagues like these, you have to be at your best,” said Dhoni during the post-match presentation.
“Motivation is not a factor, the guys are highly motivated and maybe we need to tune up slightly as to what needs to be done and also a few tosses if they had gone our way,” he said.
“It would have looked worse winning toss and batting on that wicket and I felt the wicket changed a bit, it was a bit challenging but it was a good wicket,” he added.
Rahul played a captain’s knock of 98* as PBKS chased the target of 135 in just 13 overs. With this emphatic win, PBKS improved their net run-rate, and now has a chance of making the top four. They need a big favour from RR though in the evening game, but the hope remains.
Only two other batters reached the double-figure mark for PBKS as Shardul Thakur scalped three wickets for Chennai and Deepak Chahar returned with one.
Brief Scores: KKR 171/4 (Shubman Gill 56, Venkatesh Iyer 38; Rahul Tewatia 1-11) vs Rajasthan Royals 85/10 (Rahul Tewatia 44; Shivam Mavi 4-21, Lockie Ferguson 3-18)