XtraTime Web Desk – Kolkata Knight Riders thrashed Rajasthan Royals by 60 runs in Match 52 of IPL 2020 at Dubai International Stadium on Sunday to leapfrog to the fourth spot in points table. The win also keeps Eoin Morgan and his boys in the hunt for a playoff spot.
The Knight Riders had a good start as Shubman Gill and Rahul Tripathi set up a good platform for them. Gill scored 36 of 24 deliveries while Rahul Tripathi scored 39 of 34 deliveries. Captain Eoin Morgan played brilliantly as he scored 68 of just 35 deliveries. With this, KKR reached to a total of 191 runs after 20 overs.
Rajasthan Royals stumbled right from the beginning. They lost 5 wickets in the first five overs of their innings and had to climb a mountain to win which they eventually failed. Jos Buttler and Rahul Tewatia tried their best but it was too much to ask. Eventually both of them lost their wicket. Pat Cummins took 4 wickets while Varun Chakravarty and Shivam Mavi took 2 each. Rajasthan finished their innings on 131 with the loss of 9 wickets after 20th over.
The winning captain, Eoin Morgan in the post match conference said, “We were out there to be play a free-flowing style of cricket. That was the only way we were going to win. Especially with the dew factor expected anyways, irrespective of when it came.”
When asked about KKR’s performance in the powerplay Morgan said, “We felt that a hard length or a good length was the best spot to bowl. We tried to execute that in the first six overs and I thought Mavi was outstanding. Obviously Pat set the tone early on.”
Losing captain Steve Smith in the post match conference said, “Losing four in the Powerplay, it was always going to be tough from there. Cummins bowled nice lengths, made us play big shots. We got off to a flier, but then we lost wickets in a clump.”