Hello and welcome to Sportstar's live coverage of the IPL 2021 match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Rajasthan Royals.
Mavi finishes with four wickets in what was a complete bowling performance to back up the batters early on.
WICKET! Tewatia drags a Mavi wide delivery on to his stumps and that's the end of this contest. Kolkata wins by 86 runs and moves to 14 points with a NRR of +0.480.Mumbai will need to win by 171 runs to overtake KKR in the fourth spot.
Narine comes on. Tewatia sweeps behind square and ends up turning back Sakariya, who was keen to come back for a second. Sakariya is caught short by a throw from Shakib. RR are nine down. Mustafizur is the last batter. RR 85/9 in 16 overs
Ferguson on for his final over. Tewatia with a skier but the ball lands safely among three converging fielders. A couple of twos for Tewatia. Width offered by Ferguson and Tewatia climbs all over it and dispatches it behind point for a four. RR 83/8 in 15 overs
Varun replaces Ferguson. Tewatia is shepherding the strike... Four dot balls, which included a forward stride block. Just a single from the over. RR 75/8 in 14 overs
Narine returns and Tewatia deposits the ball into the roads of Sharjah! He turns down the single. RR 74/8 in 13 overs
Ferguson is back. Unadkat cracks a lofted drive for a surprise four. WICKET! He tries to do the same thing again but this time he mistimes it to Shakib at deep cover. Sakariya is the no. 10 batter. A slower delivery but Tewatia picks it up and slashes it to deep extra cover for a four. RR 66/8 in 12 overs
Varun continues and Tewatia slog sweeps him behind square lg for a huge six! Surely this game is beyond Tewatia... is it? Nine runs from the over. RR 58/7 in 11 overs
Mavi continues. Tewatia with back-to-back boundaries here on the offside; through the covers and point. Another boundary to end the over as he clips it behind his legs. A couple of runs to end the over. RR 49/7 in 10 overs
Varun comes on. And that's another! WICKET! Morris goes for the sweep and misses and is trapped leg before. Umpire raises his finger up quickly after having turned down an appeal previously. RR 35/7 in 9 overs
Mavi is back into the attack. WICKET! A dream wicket for Mavi! Phillips plays all around a 140kmph delivery, which came in slightly, to peg his off stump back! Time out taken. We are back and Tewatia is the new man in. WICKET! This could get over in the next few minutes... Mavi now cleans up Dube. He does him for pace as the ball crasges into his pads and onto the stumps. RR 34/6 in 8 overs
Dube cracks the roof with a huge six agianst Narine! Phillips gets into the action as well. A full delivery from Narine gets smashed straight behind for another six. RR 30/4 in 7 overs
Lowest PP score of the season for the Royals.
Ferguson continues. The Kiwi is throwing down some serious pace. Four successive dots and just a single from the over. A disasterous PP for the Royals. RR 17/4 in 16 overs
Varun comes on in the PP. The Knights are squeezing their hands around Royals' neck here. No easy runs on offer for the batting duo. RR 16/4 in 5 overs
Ferguson comes on for his first. WICKET! Superb running catch from Tripathi at deep midwicket to see the back of Livingstone, who mistimes a pull! Things go from bad to worse for Royals. Rawat is the new man in. WICKET! Around the wicket from Livingstone and he raps Rawat on the pads first ball! No hesitation form the umpire to raise the finger but Rawat ends up buring the review. That was three reds all day. Phillips is the new batter. RR 13/4 in 4 overs
Narine replaces Shakib. Livingstone with a cut which gets him his first boundary. RR 12/2 in 3 overs
Mavi from the other end. GONE! Samson tucks him straight to midwicket! Morgan with an excellent catch to boost Kolkata's spirits. Dube comes in at 4 . He starts with a flourishing cover drive and finds two runs. RR 4/2 in 2 overs.
Shakib up with the new ball. Jaiswal on strike. Cleans him up third ball! Jaiswal opts for a risky reverse-sweep first-up but Shakib zips through to beat the blade and smash the stumps. Samson comes in. He gets off the mark with a drive to long-on. RR 1/1 in 1 over.
Back for the chase! Morgan's men have one final pep talk before steaming in. A win almost assures their playoffs berth. Jaiswal and Livingstone open for RR.
========================================
We will be back in 10 with the chase.
KKR has set itself well at the end of the first innings thanks to Gill, Iyer and some good cameos across the batting order. Chasing is never easy in Sharjah and it will be fairly confident with the bowling attack at its disposal. Can the Royals, who are known to pull out a surprise when you least expect them to, upset the Knights today and make it an exciting final day tomorrow?
Morris to bowl the final over. Just singles and byes so far after 3 deliveries. Morgan swings and misses but Samson misses behind the stumps too. The ball trickles behind for a welcome boundary for KKR. Morgan connects well and he deposits a full delivery over the deep square leg fielder for a six. KKR 171/4 in 20 overs
Mustafizur to bowl the penultimate over. 150 up for KKR. Morgan does well to squeeze the yorker between point and short third for a boundary. Seven runs from the over. KKR 155/4 in 19 overs
WICKET! Sakariya deceives Tripathi with a slower ball; swing and a miss sees his stumps shattered. Morgan is the new man. Huge lbw shot against Morgan and Samson goes for the review. Impact is way outside off and the Royals lose their review. A good over for Royals; just three runs from the 18th. KKR 148/4 in 18 overs
Fizz returns. He cramps Tripathi and Karthik who sneak in two singles apiece. Karthik then slams Mustafizur's shorter delivery over mid-wicket for a massive six. KKR 145/3 in 17 overs.
Morris is back. Gill whacks him to midwicket for a cracking boundary. Morris deftly rolls in the slower-one and finds the leading-edge off Gill. OUT! The ball goes straight up and Yashasvi completes the catch at extra cover. Morris finally has a wicket to his name in the UAE leg. KKR 135/3 in 16 overs
Sakariya comes on. Gill with a streaky boundary down the ground to go to his fifty! KKR 127/2 in 15 overs
Much-needed time out for Royals
Dube is back. Tripathi picks the slower delivery and times it straight over the bowler's head for an one-bounce four. Wide from Dube and Tripathi drills it along the ground behind point for another four. 13 runs from the over. KKR 119/2 in 14 overs
Mustafizur is back on. Gill tucks it behind square and it required Dube to flick it in just near the boudary rope. They run three. 100 up for KKR. Short and keeps low but Gill gets enough power on his pull to place it between the fielders in the deep to get another boundary. Fiz induces an outside edge from Tripathi which is grassed by Samson on the dive. KKR 106/2 in 13 overs
KKR has upped the scoring rate in the last 3-4 overs.
Phillips with his off-spin now and Rana slices a drive behind point for a four. In the slot and Rana launches Phillips straight down the ground for a six! He looks to go inside out over long off but he ends up finding the hands of Livingstone at the boundary. Rahul Tripathi is the new batter. What a way to get off the mark! He drills an on drive piercing the fielders in the deep. 17 runs from the over. KKR 97/2 in 12 overs
Spin in the form of Tewatia and Gill welcomes him with a one-handed six! Dances down and lofts him over long on for his second six of the innings. WICKET! Tewatia gets the breakthrough! Iyer lines up for a switch hit and plays around the delivery to get bowled between the legs. Nitish Rane is the new man in. KKR 80/1 in 11 overs
Unadkat back for his last over. Slower ball and Iyer picks it up before cracking a six over deep midwicket boundary. Stunning! He pulls Unadkat straight down the ground for a six! Unadkat holding his shin and seems to be in some discomfort with one ball left in his spell. He is down on the ground now. Unadkat does well to finish his spell with two dots. KKR 69/0 in 10 overs
Shivam Dube with his gentle medium pace now. Samson up the stumps as Royals continue to cramp the openers in their crease. Even a full-toss ends in the hands of fielder. Five runs from the over. KKR 55/0 in 9 overs
Mustafizur comes on for his first. KKR's Harbhajan on the mic "150 would be a good score on this wicket." Just 6 runs from the over. A close shout for a leg before agianst Iyer as he misses a swipe across the line. Umpire turns it down. KKR 50/0 in 8 overs
First time out taken
Unadkat is into his third over. One of these openers will look to up the scoring rate. But Undakat takes the pace off the ball making it difficult for them to get the timing right. Iyer pays it smart, opening the face of the bat to quide the slower delivery between the two fielders inside the circle behind off. KKR 44/0 in 7 overs
Morris is back. Morris following the batters as they look to make room to cut their arms loose. Just three singles. Good powerplay for Royals. KKR 34/0 in 6 overs
Sakariya continues. Short of length and Gill dances down the track and cracks it over his head for a six! Samson comes up the stumps to ensure Gill stays in his crease. It seems to have worked in Royals favour as Gill is stifled in his crease with 3 dot balls. Iyer ends the over with a powerful drive, beating the mid-off fielder for a four. KKR 31/0 in 5 overs
A switch of ends for Unadkat. A couple of whips down the leg but Iyer only manages to find the midwicket fielder inside the circle. Just two singles and a wide. KKR 20/0 in 4 overs
Sakariya replaces Unadkat. Tidy from the left-arm seamer. Just 2 runs from it. KKR 17/0 in 3 overs
Morris shares the new ball. Good start from Morris as Iyer looks to break free early on without much luck. The ball getting slightly stuck in the pitch making it difficult for both Gill and Iyer to get their shots away. Iyer dances down the track and cracks a lofted drive over mid-on and just managed to clear the fielder's outstretched hand and gets a four. KKR 15/0 in 2 overs
Gill off the mark with a tuck down the mid-on region for a couple. Glorious drive the ground by Gill for a boundary. Iyer gets going with a single. KKR 8/0 in 1 over
Venkatesh Iyer and Shubman Gill are out to open. Jaydev Unadkat will take the new ball.
The top score batting first in Sharjah this season has been 164 by RCB against Punjab. The lowest score batting first was by Rajasthan with 90 in the previous match against Mumbai.
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan (c), Shakib Al Hasan, Dinesh Karthik (w), Sunil Narine, Shivam Mavi, Lockie Ferguson , Varun Chakaravarthy
Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI) : Liam Livingstone , Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson(w/c), Anuj Rawat , Shivam Dube, Glenn Phillips, David Miller, Rahul Tewatia, Chris Morris , Jaydev Unadkat , Mustafizur Rahman, Chetan Sakariya
Kolkata change: Lockie Ferguson IN, Tim Southee OUT
Rajasthan changes: Liam Livingstone, Jaydev Unadkat, Anuj Rawat, Morris - IN; Ewin Lewis, David Miller, Shreyas Gopal, Kuldip - OUT
TOSS: Sanju Samson wins toss, Rajasthan Royals will bowl first vs Kolkata. Samson says Rajasthan has four changes today.
Toss is just a couple of minutes away...
6:51PM IST: JUST IN! Punjab Kings has thrashed the Super Kings by six wickets and 42 balls to spare. The win lifts Punjab into fifth above Mumbai. Can Rajasthan now do it a favour by beating Kolkata comprehensively to keep its playoff dream alive? KXIP vs CSK - highlights
6:24PM IST: Captain Morgan's men are on the verge of a playoffs spot.
PREVIEW
Kolkata Knight Riders will look to take a step closer to a playoff berth when it faces Rajasthan Royals in Sharjah on Thursday. Rajasthan Royals' loss against the Mumbai Indians on Tuesday means it is pretty much out of the race.
The win against Sunrisers Hyderabad took KKR to 12 points and its net run rate to +0.294, the best among the teams eyeing the final playoff berth. A win against the Royals will ensure it finishes fourth.
However, if they lose, they will have to rely on Hyderabad to beat Mumbai, in which case KKR should go through on net run rate.
READ|
KKR has banked on an all-round team effort. Against Hyderabad, playing his first game of the second leg, Shakib Al Hasan made a mark, first by getting out Kane Williamson with a direct hit and then with figures of 1 for 20. Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy continue to maintain a stranglehold through the middle overs.
In the UAE, the KKR batters have hammered bowling attacks upfront. However, against the Sunrisers, Venkatesh Iyer and Rahul Tripathi were out early. KKR would hope that's an aberration. On Wednesday, a social media post shared by KKR showed the injured duo of Andre Russell and Lockie Ferguson sweating it out in the nets. Should they return against the Royals, it will be a boost.
Meanwhile, Rajasthan's meek surrender against Mumbai was the exact opposite of its flashy win against Chennai. On a Sharjah wicket that played low and slow, some RR batters were guilty of playing across the line against length balls as they limped to 90 for nine, their third-lowest total in the IPL. Royals could consider playing an experienced Jaydev Unadkat in place of Kuldip Yadav.
HEAD TO HEAD
WHERE TO WATCH IPL 2021 - KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS VS RAJASTHAN ROYALS LIVE?
IPL 2021 will be aired Live on Star Sports channels - Star Sports 1, Star Sports 1 HD, Star Sports 3 and Star Sports 3 HD. It will be streamed live on Hotstar.
Comments
SHARE