IPL 2019 Highlights: KKR beats RR by eight wickets, go top of table

IPL 2019, RR vs KKR Live Score: Catch all the updates of an Indian Premier League match between Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders from Jaipur's Sawai Mansingh Stadium.

Updated : Apr 07, 2019 22:55 IST , Jaipur

It's all even stevens here! Will Rajasthan Royals excel at home or will Kolkata Knight Riders claim its fourth win of the campaign?
It's all even stevens here! Will Rajasthan Royals excel at home or will Kolkata Knight Riders claim its fourth win of the campaign?
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It's all even stevens here! Will Rajasthan Royals excel at home or will Kolkata Knight Riders claim its fourth win of the campaign?

Good evening and welcome to Sportstar's live coverage of the IPL 2019 . This is match two of the 'super Sunday' and it is Rajasthan Royals hosting Kolkata Knight Riders. Jaipur's Sawai Mansingh Stadium is fittingly decked in pink and I am Hari Kishore M , bringing you all the updates.

SCORES×

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That is it from the IPL for tonight. A super Sunday for Delhi and Kolkata while Bangalore and Rajasthan need to get back to basics. Untill Monday, when Kings XI Punjab plays Sunrisers Hyderabad, it is good night!

With the win, KKR leapfrogs to the top of the table. It has been a commendable performance by Dinesh Karthik's army. They bowled well, kept Rajasthan in the check and finally overhauled the target with minimum fuss. It was just not Rajasthan's day tonight.

KKR 140/2 in 13.5 overs: That is it. KKR beats RR by eight wickets. After RR toiled to 139, KKR just blazed away to the target in less than 14 overs. And yes, Andre Russell didn't get to bat. Sunil Narine, Chris Lynn and Robin Uthappa among the runs tonight.

KKR 133/2 in 13 overs: It is just a formality now. Robin Uthappa is blazing away (25 off 15 balls). He smacks Shreyas Gopal for two sixes and brings the equation down to 7 runs off 42 balls.

KKR 114/2 in 10.5 overs: Shreyas Gopal strikes again! This time it is Chris Lynn. The batsman goes for a sweep but ends up top edging it to S. Midhun at deep backward squareleg. Lynn departs for 50 (32 balls, 6x4, 3x6).

KKR 105/1 in 10 overs: KKR needs 35 runs in 60 balls and it is going to be easy for visitor from here.

KKR 91/1 in 8.3 overs: Shreyas Gopal strikes. Narine is out for 47, edging a googly to Steve Smith. RR has the breakthrough but Narine has done the damage. Remember, he was dropped by Dhawal Kulkarni in the second over.

KKR 84/0 in 8 overs: What a match this is turning out to be. Sunil Narine sends Sudhesan Midhun to the crowds in the deep square leg and deep midwicket area as KKR is coasting towards an easy win. By scoring more than 10 runs an over, KKR just needs about 4.5 runs per over from here.

KKR 65/0 in 6 overs: What a start for KKR, chasing 140 to win. Sunil Narine (34 off 16) and Chris Lynn (29 off 20) have sent the RR bowlers to the cleaners. The powerplay is all about hitting and KKR have followed it to the cue. Also, the openers seem to have made it easy for Andre Russell in the end.

KKR 54/0 in 5 overs: Chris Lynn sends Jofra Archer into the orbit and brings up the 50 run partnership between him and Sunil Narine in just 25 balls. Looks like KKR is racing away to 140. It is also the fastest team 50 in IPL 2019 — 52 runs in 4.1 overs.

KKR 46/0 in 4 overs: It looks like it isn't Rajasthan's night. First Rahul Tripathi drops Sunil Narine, a sitter, and then Dhawal Kulkarni breaches Chris Lynn's defence but the bails don't come off. The ball took the inside edge and brushed the off-stump, the LED light comes off but the bail gets back into its place. Lynn smacks Kulkarni the next ball for four as the action packed over comes to an end with 10 runs coming off it.

KKR 32/0 in 2 overs: What a start. Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine take nine off Dhawal Kulkarni in the first over and Narine milks Krishnappa Gowatham for 22 in the second over. KKR is off to a rollicking start. Narine goes 4,0,6,4,4,4 off Gowtham.

Kolkata Knight Riders openers Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine are out in the middle.

Who is Harry Gurney? We have it for you here !

RR 139/3 in 20 overs: Harry Gurney bowls a terrific last over. I say terrific because we have Steve Smith unbeaten in the 70s. On his day, he could have taken any IPL debutant to the cleaners in the slog overs. Gurney just gives away one boundary, including two dots. Will 139 be enough for the host? That's the big question now. We'll find out in a while from now.

RR 131/3 in 19 overs: Prasidh Krishna errs in the penultimate over. Two wides and two no-balls, but the free hits give minimum damage. 12 runs overall in the 19th. The penultimate overs are the most important ones, especially when chasing and how many times have we seen that being game changers? It is good that KKR is bowling first. An over of this magnitude when chasing would be more costly that what it is now!

RR 111/3 in 17.1 overs: Steve Smith went for a slog-sweep but ends up getting the ball on his knee. The umpire gives it not-out and DK immediately went for a review. The Ultra-edge doesn't pick up anything but the ball tracking shows wickets as umpires call. A huge roar at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium.

RR 111/3 in 17 overs: 18 balls left in the innings and all eyes on Steve Smith. Can he do something special?

RR 105/3 in 15.4 overs: Harry Gurney is having a good IPL debut. He strikes again, removes Rahul Tripathi. The batsman needed to go after the bowler and targets the slower ball but only gets it high in the air and Piyush Chawla in the cover region had all the time in the world to settle under it.

RR 103/2 in 15 overs: Steve Smith gets to his 50, off 44 balls. He is the anchor now. Just as I said, the boundaries have dried up, Steve Smith picks two off Prasidh Krishna. One behind point and the next in the square leg region. Smith is accelerating and good times for RR!

RR 91/2 in 14 overs: Piyush Chawla finished his quota in the last over with impressive figures of 4-0-19-0 and Narine gives away 7 runs in the 14th over. Steve Smith is on run-a-ball 39 and Rahul Tripathi on 4. The former Australian captain is the key to RR's fortunes tonight. The good part for KKR is that the boundaries for RR have dried up. Jos Buttler's six in the 12th over was the last shot that met the ropes (or should I say, sailed over the ropes).

RR 77/2 in 11.5 overs: Harry Gurney strikes. Jos Buttler departs. He sent Gurney into the stands a ball earlier and targets the cow corner the next ball. He could only connect to the bottom end of the bat, got the elevation and didn't get the distance as he finds Shubman Gill just centimeters away from the rope. Buttler is out for 37 (34 balls, 5x4, 1x6).

RR 56/1 in 10 overs: Harry Gurney has come up with a good over. He gives away just 3 runs as Rajasthan moves to 56. Steve Smith and Jos Buttler, meanwhile, have added 51 off 53 balls for the second wicket. Rajasthan needs more than double of what it has scored in the first 10, a task that looks easy with these two set batsmen in.

Dinesh Karthik introduces Harry Gurney into the attack.

RR 53/1 in 9 overs: The powerplay ends and RR steps it up. 25 runs in three overs as Narine gives 8 and Kuldeep gives 10 in the last 2 overs. Despite this, RR is a notch below the 6 runs per over mark. The good thing for RR is both Steve Smith and Jos Buttler are in good touch.

RR 28/1 in 6 overs: An excellent over bowled by Sunil Narine to end the powerplay. He has just conceeded three runs. KKR has been on the money as RR has just managed its lowest powerplay score this season .

Sunil Narine is introduced in the last over of the powerplay.

RR 23/1 in 4 overs: 11 runs of Prasidh Krishna. Jos Buttler gets two boundaries, off consecutive balls, in the mid-wicket and fine leg region as Prasidh's length goes for a toss. Buttler looks solid, KKR shouldn't get this player off to a flier.

RR 12/1 in 3 overs: Piyush Chawla is brought back into the attack and he tries a googly in the second ball: the line goes wrong and it lands between middle and leg. Buttler pushes it to the fence for a boundary. Only two runs come off the remaining five balls.

RR 5/1 in 1.1 overs: That's an early wicket. Prasidh Krishna strikes! A length ball saw Ajinkya Rahane going for the flick but he ends up completely missing it altogether. Plumb in front! The skipper departs for 5 (7 balls, 1x4).

RR 5/0 in 1 over:   Jaipur saw a sandstorm earlier in the day and that explains why Robin Uthappa is wearing a face mask. Meanwhile, Rahane slog-sweeps Piyush Chawla over the midwicket region for a boundary. The only big scoring shot in the first over. An otherwise good start for Chawla.

We are all set for LIVE action.

Here are the playing XIs:

Rajasthan Royals : Ajinkya Rahane (cap), Jos Buttler (wk), Steven Smith, Rahul Tripathi, Ben Stokes, Prashant Chopra, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Dhawal Kulkarni and Sudhesan Midhun.

Kolkata Knight Riders : Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik(wk/cap), Shubman Gill, Andre Russell, Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav, Harry Gurney and Prasidh Krishna.

Ajinkya Rahane : We have played three games in five days, we won against RCB and looking forward to this match. We were batting first, we need to play well against a team like KKR. We have to be aggressive against him (Russell) and bowl good line and lengths. Prashant Chopra and Midhun are in, Binny and Aaron miss out.

Dinesh Karthik : We will bowl first. The wicket looks good, will hold good for 40 overs, we would like to chase. We just need to keep the spirits high in the camp, the expectation on the team is always there, a score around 140 should be a par score. One change for us, Harry Gurney replaces Lockie Ferguson.

Toss update: Kolkata Knight Riders has won the toss and has invited Rajasthan to bat first.

In 19 meetings between the two teams, they are equally matched. While both KKR and RR have won nine matches each, one match yielded in a no-result.

Weather report: There is news of slight dip in the evening temperatures and the dew factor would come in as the game progresses.

Here is the preview of the match from P.K. Ajith Kumar :

Royals braces up for Russell raid as Knight Riders comes calling

Shortly after Rajasthan Royals started practising on Friday evening, the dreaded dust storm entered the nets at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. Everything became a blur for a while. Such storms are not uncommon here at this time of the year and can be deadly, literally. Come Sunday, Ajinkya Rahane’s men will have an even deadlier storm to worry about in Andre Russell, who has truly taken this IPL by storm by batting like a hurricane.

Russell’s matchless hitting gives Kolkata Knight Riders a cutting edge. If Dinesh Karthik’s men have won three of their four matches — and took the other to the Super Over — they have the Jamaican all-rounder to thank for it. In four innings, Russell has smashed 207 runs at a strike rate of 268.83 and an average of 103.5. In the 77 balls he has faced, he has hit 22 sixes and 12 fours. That means only 27 of his runs have been scored via actual running.

In pictures| Russell mania, Siraj slip-ups and other unforgettable moments

Knight Riders’s batting is not merely about Russell, however. Nitish Rana has been in fine form, and there are dependable men like Karthik, Robin Uthappa and Shubman Gill to come in after Chris Lynn and Sunil Narine, the openers.

The bowling hasn’t isn’t as reassuring as its batting. Wrist spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Piyush Chawla are the only Knight Riders bowlers to boast an economy rate of less than nine.

Formidable attack

The host team’s bowling looks sharper. Pacers Jofra Archer and Ben Stokes, and spinners Shreyas Gopal and K. Gowtham, form a formidable attack.

MORE FROM IPL 2019

Gopal was brilliant in the last match. It was the leg-spinner’s three prized wickets — Virat Kohli, AB de Villiers and Shimron Hetmyer — that led Royals to its first win of the season, against Royal Challengers Bangalore.

The batting will be further strengthened by the return of Sanju Samson. Samson, who scored the first hundred of the season, had to sit out the last game because of a niggle. The form of Jos Buttler, Ajinkya Rahane, Steve Smith and Rahul Tripathi also inspires confidence.

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