IPL 2018, RR vs KKR: 5 Talking Points

England v India: Carlton Mid ODI Tri Series - Game 6

Rajasthan Royals (RR) returned to their home ground which has been a fortress for them. They won 9 games in a row heading into this game against Kolkata Knight Riders( KKR). RR came into this match after defeating RCB and KKR dominated their match against DD.

It is a ground where the home team's captain Ajinkya Rahane has a tremendous record. He has an average of 44.5 in 26 games. He along with Sanju Samson hoped to make use of the home conditions to carry forward the positive momentum for RR.

KKR after a couple of disappointing performances got the team combination bang on and put on a complete team performance against the Delhi Daredevils. They would know what challenged await them when they take on a formidable RR at home and would just at doing things right.

Both teams remained unchanged from their previous games, emphasizing on the confidence and clarity with which both teams head into this match.

After posting a below par 160 runs, KKR went about their chase in a very calm, controlled manner. After losing Chris Lynn early, the other batsmen Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana and the skipper Dinesh Karthik steered KKR to a comfortable 7 wicket win to continue their winning streak.

Here’s looking at 5 talking points from the RR vs KKR match:

#5 Ajinkya Rahane looked really comfortable in tough conditions

On a pitch which was low, slow and was assisting the spinners, Ajinkya Rahane was sublime. He just loves to play at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium at Jaipur and this game was no different.

With his opening partner D’ Arcy Short struggling to rotate the strike and push the scoring rate against the spinners, Ajinkya Rahane played the role of the enforcer, something he’s not used to doing.

He gauged the conditions and after getting in he attacked the spinners and caused some worry for DK. He decided to attack Sunil Narine and thrashed the Windies spinner for four batsmen in an over.

It was a real blow for the Royals to lose Rahane where he looked so comfortable in a pitch where the other batsmen found it rather hard to get in. Batsmen were hardly able to attain a strike rate of 100, but Ajinkya Rahane finished on 36 of just 18 balls.

It took a smart stumping from his opposition captain Dinesh Karthik to get rid of him which certainly stemmed the flow of runs for RR.