The Kolkata Knight Riders were beaten by the Rajasthan Royals by six wickets, on Tuesday at Eden Gardens in their Indian Premier League match. With this win, Rajasthan has won 9 matches out of 11, next to Kolkata and have made sure that they stay very well in the tournament.

 

The Rajasthan Royals have become one of the most famous teams of the tournament. However, it was the seventh defeat of Kolkata in the 12 matches and they are almost out of the tournament as they won't be able to make it even to the last four.

 

Set a target of 148 runs to win by the Knight Riders, the Rajasthan team started a little shakily with the loss of an early wicket with Ishant Sharma managed to get an edge from opener Swapnil Asnodkar(5) to wicket keeper Wriddhiman Saha when the score was just 16. The South African captain Graeme Smith (24) and Sohail Tanvir were promoted and set up the order for batting. Both of these batsmen played some sensible cricket and managed to take the score to 42. Then, in Umar Gul's first over which was the sixth over of the innings, both these batsmen went back to the pavilion.

 

After Ganguly picked up the wicket of Shane Watson who was starting to look dangerous in the crease, the Rajasthan Royals were reduced to 69 for the loss of four wickets after the end of tenth over. But then Mohammad Kaif (34 not out) and Pathan (48 not out) played really well and scored an unbeaten 81 run partnership for the fifth wicket and made sure that their team won the match quite comfortably.

 

Pathan was very impressive with the bat. His 18 ball knock included five fours and three sixes which ultimately helped the Rajasthan Royals to regain that lost momentum. The Royals made 150 for the loss of four wickets and won the game very handsomely with 21 balls to spare.

 

Earlier in the match, the Kolkata Knight Riders were put into bat by the Rajasthan Royals. The team once again faltered and could not score even a single 50-run partnership. None of the batsmen even managed to reach the 40s. Pacer Tanvir of the Rajasthan Royals once again bowled very good spells and got 3 wickets and gave away just 26 runs. Munaf Patel complemented him handsomely with picking up 2 wickets and gave away just 22 runs.

 

Brief Scores

 

Kolkata Knight Riders:147/8 in 20 overs

Rajasthan Royals: 150/4 in 16.3 overs

Result: Rajasthan Royals won by 6 wickets (with 21 balls remaining)

Man of the Match: YK Pathan (Rajasthan Royals)