After the high of a record win in their previous game, Rajasthan Royals slumped to their first loss of the season on Wednesday, 30 September, going down by 37 runs against Kolkata Knight Riders.
Put in to bat, KKR had posted 174/6 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium courtesy opener Shubman Gill's 47 and Eoin Morgan's unbeaten 34.
In response, Tom Curran scored a fighting half-century but the Steve Smith-led franchise could only manage 137/9 in 20 overs.
RR suffered a top-order collapse in the early phase of their chase, and were reeling at 39/3 after 6.1 overs.
Captain Smith was out caught behind off a delivery by pacer Pat Cummins for 3. Young fast bowling all-rounder Shivam Mavi then picked up two wickets. He removed No.3 batsman Sanju Samson – who smashed a blistering 42-ball 85 in the previous game – for 8 (9 balls), and followed it up with the wicket of Jos Buttler (21 off 16 balls) in his next over.
Another young pacer, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, picked up the next two wickets for KKR in the 8th over – removing Uthappa for 2 and Riyan Parag for 1.
Tewatia, who had launched some massive fireworks against KXIP at Sharjah, could not save his team this time around. He was out bowled by Varun Chakravarthy for a 10-ball 14.
From 67/6 in 11 overs, Rajasthan were down to 88/8 in 14.4 overs after losing Gopal (5) and Archer (6).
Kuldeep Yadav finally joined the party with the wicket of Unadkat (9) on the final ball of the 18th over – his first scalp of the season.
Coming in to bat at seven, English bowling all-rounder Curran scored an unbeaten 36-ball 54, and was at the crease with Ankit Rajpoot (7*) at the end.
Mavi, Nagarkoti and Varun picked up two wickets each while Narine, Cummins and Yadav got a scalp apiece.
Gill & Morgan Help KKR Post 174/6
Earlier, Rajasthan Royals captain Smith handed the ball to a total of seven players during the 20 over innings. Jofra Archer returned with 2/18 while Ankit Rajpoot, Tom Curran, Jaydev Unadkat and Rahul Tewatia picked up a wicket each. Riyan Parag remained wicketless while Shreyas Gopal was the most expensive bowler, returning with 0/43 in four overs.
After Sunil Narine fell to pacer Unadkat for a 14-ball 15, Gill stitched a 46-run stand with Nitish Rana. The partnership was broken by Tewatia, who dismissed the latter for 22 (off 17 balls) and reduced KKR to 82/2 in 10 overs.
Soon after, England pacer Archer caught and bowled Gill for 47 (off 34 balls) and none of the incoming batsmen after that managed to stitch a solid partnership.
After going for a duck in their previous match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, KKR captain Dinesh Karthik produced another disappointing performance, falling for 1. Big-hitting Andre Russell smashed four huge sixes but was dismissed for a 14-ball 24.
Englishman Eoin Morgan helped KKR avoid a collapse, and finished with an unbeaten 23-ball 34.
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