Kolkata Knight Riders defeated Rajasthan Royals by four wickets thanks to an undefeated 53 from Rinku Singh for their first victory of the IPL season in a low-scoring match on Sunday.
After 15-year-old Vaibhav Sooryavanshi top-scored with 46 at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens, Royals’ batting failed as they finished 155/9.
Before the left-handed Rinku led the team home with two balls remaining, KKR, who entered the tournament with five losses and one point from a rained-off game, fell to 5/2 and 85/6.
Rinku led the side home with an undefeated 76-run partnership with number eight Anukul Roy, who scored 29, after hitting five fours and two sixes in his 34-ball knock.
When he smashed a six off Jofra Archer in the 19th over and KKR required 9 from the last 6 balls, the left-handed Roy remained composed beside his senior partner.
After being dropped on 8 by Nandre Burger, Rinku raised his fifty to cheer up the home fans and dugout with two fours and a winning six.
On the opening ball of the chase, Tim Seifert was bowled for a duck by England pace bowler Archer, and South Africa’s Ajinkya Rahane was dismissed for nothing by Burger, making it two down.
KKR big-buy Cameron Green looked fluent in his 27 off 13 balls, but wicketkeeper Dhruv Jurel’s wide dive and back flip onto the stumps stumped him off Ravi Bishnoi.
Ravindra Jadeja claimed two scalps as wickets continued to fall, but Rinku made the most of his early reprieve to help three-time winners KKR cross the finish line.
Earlier, the Royals got off to a great start with openers Yashasvi Jaiswal (39) and T20 superstar Sooryavanshi (81 for the first wicket), who recovered from a golden duck in the last game to hammer six fours and two sixes in his 28-ball knock.
The left-handed Sooryavanshi was dismissed by spinner Varun Chakravarthy, who then returned figures of 3/14 to cause a collapse. Sunil Narine collected 2/26 while fast bowler Kartik Tyagi claimed three crucial wickets.
