CHRIS DHAMBARAGE
COLOMBO – Leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal took a four-wicket haul and Yashasvi Jaiswal hammered a record-breaking half century as Rajasthan Royals cruised to a smashing nine-wicket victory over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the 56th match of the Indian Premier League (IPL) played at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday.
Chahal returned excellent figures of four for 25 from his four overs and became the leading IPL wicket-taker of all time as KKR were restricted to 149 for eight in 20 overs after they were invited to bat first.
Rajasthan then made a mockery of the target as Jaiswal played a breathtaking 98 not out to help his team to overtake KKR’s score with more than six overs and nine wickets to spare.
Chasing 150 to win, Rajasthan couldn’t have got off to a better start. Jaiswal’s batting had confidence written all over it as the in-form opener hammered 26-runs off the very first over.
Andre Russell’s excellent direct hit provided the opening breakthrough for KKR as Jos Buttler was out without scoring.
However, Jaiswal was unstoppable with the bat and the Rajasthan opener notched up the fastest 50 ever in the history of IPL as he completed the milestone from just 13 deliveries.
Rajasthan Royals were cruising in the chase as they moved to 78 for one after 6 overs and the 100 was up for Rajasthan in the 10th over as Jaiswal continued his dominant aggressive batting display.
Rajasthan Skipper Sanju Samson also jumped on the bandwagon and dealt in boundaries as the pair continued the onslaught to share a 121-run unbroken partnership to put their side back on winning ways and to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Earlier, Venkatesh Iyer’s responsible half century enabled KKR to put up a modest total even as Chahal took four important wickets.
The KKR left-handed duo, of Captain Nitish Rana and Venkatesh, chose to rotate the strike and added 48 runs before Chahal broke the partnership in the 11th over.
Chahal trapped Shardul Thakur in front and had Rinku Singh caught at long-off to become the highest IPL wicket-takers with 187 scalps.
Chahal, who showed great control and varied his pace, claimed three wickets in the last five overs as KKR managed only 33 runs losing four wickets during that phase.
Chief scores
Kolkata Knight Riders: 149/8 in 20 overs (Venkatesh Iyer 57, Nitish Rana 22, Trent Boult 2/15, Yuzvendra Chahal 4/25)
Rajasthan Royals: 151/1 in 13.1 overs (Yashasvi Jaiswal 98 n.o, Sanju Samson 48 n.o).
