Moeen Ali leaves Nitish Rana clueless, cleans him up for 8 in RR vs KKR IPL 2025 match [Watch]
Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) all-rounder Moeen Ali left Nitish Rana bamboozled in the IPL 2025 clash against the Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Wednesday at the Baraspara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati. The former England all-rounder left the southpaw clueless, sending him packing for eight in the match as the Royals found themselves in strife after the halfway mark.
The dismissal occurred in the 11th over of the innings as Ajinkya Rahane brought Moeen on for his third. Until the final ball of the over, the off-spinner had conceded six runs. Rana, who was on strike for the final delivery, made room and looked to nudge the ball by opening the face of the bat. However, the ball turned slightly to beat the left-hander's bat, thereby disturbing the stumps.
Watch Nittish Rana's dismissal below:
It was also the second wicket for Moeen Ali as he picked his first in the form of Yashasvi Jaiswal, who holed out to long-on for 29 off 24 deliveries.
Moeen Ali does a terrific job with the ball after replacing Sunil Narine
The 37-year-old had notably replaced an unwell Sunil Narine in the playing XI as Ajinkya Rahane announced in the toss. With figures of 4-0-23-2, he was instrumental in restricting the Royals to 151/9 after Rahane opted to bowl first in Guwahati. However, Varun Chakravarthy was the pick of the bowlers for Kolkata, taking a haul of 4-0-17-2.
Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora also snared two each, while Spencer Johnson chipped in with one wicket. Rajasthan Royals' batting hardly reached second gear on what appeared to be a good batting track, with only five batters reaching double figures and none of them managing a half-century. Dhruv Jurel top-scored with 33 off 28 deliveries to set the defending champions a modest 152 to win.
The Knight Riders are also coming off a defeat against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at Eden Gardens in the IPL 2025 opener. Hence, they will be satisfied with their performance in the first half.