Rajasthan Royals defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by 3 wickets at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata to keep their play-off hopes alive.
Rajasthan Royals won the toss, and opted to bowl. Batting first, KKR lost Chris Lynn and Shubman Gill early. Nitish Rana chipped in with 21 runs, but fell soon after. With wickets falling at the other end, Dinesh Karthik started cautiously but played all kinds of strokes towards the end on the way to his career best 97 off 50 deliveries.
KKR eventually finished with 175/6 at the end of their innings. Chasing 176, Rajasthan too, were once reeling at 98/5. But the 17-year-old, Riyan Parag’s 47 off 31 deliveries and Jofra Archer’s 27* off 12 in the end made sure that the Royals got over the line.
After 42 matches this season, Chennai still lead the IPL standings with Delhi Capitals, Mumbai Indians and Sunrisers Hyderabad occupying the second, third and fourth places respectively.
Kings Xl Punjab are placed at the fifth position after winning 5 out of their 11 games.
Kolkata Knight Riders, Rajasthan Royals, and Royal Challengers Bangalore are placed at sixth, seventh and eighth spot respectively. All three of them have 8 points against their name, and all of them can still qualify for the play-offs. But it will take a Herculean effort from here on to change their fortunes.
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