IPL 2018, Eliminator, KKR vs RR: 4 Unnoticed things from the eliminator match between Kolkata Knightriders and Rajasthan Royals
In a bid to move one step closer to the IPL Final, the third and fourth-ranked teams squared off against each other tonight at the historic Eden Gardens, Kolkata.
The accidental home-team (The match was originally scheduled to be played at Pune) Kolkata Knight Riders cruised to victory with 25 runs in their hand.
Rajasthan Royals Captain, who rang the iconic bell at the stadium to start off the play, Ajinkya Rahane won the toss and chose to field first.
RR made quick in-roads in the Kolkatan batting line-up and it was ultimately up to Dinesh Karthik and Andre Russell to take the score to 169/7.
The innings of Royals began really well and the openers Rahul Tripathi and Ajinkya Rahane established a platform for the middle order of RR to kill the chase.
However, the middle order had no answer to Kolkata’s bowling guile and conceded a 25-run loss.
Despite it being a high-profile match, here are a few things that may have gone unnoticed:
#1 Shubman Gill’s Resilience
With Kolkata Knight Riders batting first, all their hopes relied on the opening pair of Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine to give them a fantastic start.
Tonight, Rajasthan bowlers managed to keep Lynn quiet and nicked out Narine early.
Soon the Purple team was in grave danger as their middle-order failed to contribute. With Robin Uthappa and Nitish Rana adding only six runs collectively, KKR was tottering at 51/4.
In walked an 18-year-old batsman, who was batting for the first time in this rigorous T20 condition and in front of such a mega crowd.
The youngster proved his mettle as he did not lose his wicket and supported Karthik, who freed up at the other end.
Shubman Gill was out to Jofra Archer, but only after scoring an extremely crucial 28 runs from 17 balls.
His stay at the crease stabilized Kolkata’s innings and set a platform for Karthik and Russell to attack.