The 17-year-old young Rajasthan Royals (RR) batsman Riyan Parag showed good temperament to play a match-winning knock to beat Kolkata Knight Riders by three wickets at the Eden Garden in Kolkata.
Chasing 175, Ajinkya Rahane and Sanju Samson got Rajasthan Royals off to a flying start. They added 53 runs in just 5.3 overs before Kolkata Knight Riders scripted an amazing come back. Sunil Narine provided the first breakthrough trapping Rahane in front. Piyush Chawla got the better of Samson in the next over to have Rajasthan at 57 for two. Steven Smith and Ben Stokes also followed the suit soon as the visitors were reeling at 78 for four. The overseas cricketers have been a failure for Rajasthan and this game was no different. The spinners did the trick for Kolkata as Chawla struck once more to dismiss Stuart Binny to have Rajasthan at 98 for five.
The young batsman Riyan Parag then partnered Shreyas Gopal to rally behind the mounting asking rate. Gopal took 13 runs off an over from Nitish Rana to ease off some pressure. But Prasidh Krishna removed him in very next over to keep Kolkata in the game. But the 17-year-old Riyan Parag looked determined to take Rajasthan Royals over the rope. Parag played a golden knock of 47 runs before getting out in the 19th over but Jofra Archer struck a four and a six in the first two balls to win it for Rajasthan Royals to finish his IPL campaign on a high.
Karthik leads the charge for Kolkata
Previously, Dinesh Karthik powered Dinesh Karthik to 175 runs with a swashbuckling knock of 97 runs – his highest IPL score. However, Kolkata didn’t have a good start as they lost wickets at regular intervals. They failed to keep the partnerships going as Varun Aaron provided early breakthroughs to keep the Kolkata batters in check. Shubman Gill and Nitish Rana got out after getting starts while Sunil Narine was unfortunate to get run out after taking 25 runs off Shreyas Gopal in one over.
Karthik and Andre Russell combined to bail the side but Russell looked completely out of socks. Rajasthan Royals struck back to back to dismiss two more batsmen to have Kolkata Knight Riders at 131 for six in 17.2 overs. Since then, Karthik launched a carnage and hit almost everything over the rope to post a good total. He scored 44 runs in the last 16 balls to finish the innings on a high.
Twitter Reactions:
DYK? Piyush Chawla becomes the first #KKR bowler to take a three-wicket haul in an #IPL match this season!
Bowlers from the other seven sides have already managed to do this. #IPL2019#KKRvRR— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman) April 25, 2019
Jofra You are legend ?
Last game Of this IPL season will miss You #KKRvRR— MSDian (@Ansh_MSDiian) April 25, 2019
Ben Stokes will be back in the auction next year.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) April 25, 2019
Boy, Riyan Parag is the find of @IPL this season. Surely, the one to watch out for in future. #IPL2019 #KKRvRR
— Debasis Sen (@debasissen) April 25, 2019
#RiyanParag #JofraArcher that was some incredible batting… out of nowhere these guys pulled off a win.. gotta feel for #KKR & #Karthik , they did everything right but parag & archer ruined everything for them tonight.. #KKRvRR #RRvKKR
— Rehman? (@rehmantweetz) April 25, 2019
What can his man not do? Bowls anywhere during the innings, exceptional fielder and can strike it big wirh the bat! Jofra Archer will be going to the world cup! #KKRvRR #IPL2019
— Mustafa Ismail (@MustiMachine) April 25, 2019
Riyan Parag has a pretty good temperament for a 17 year old. Exciting player to watch out!#IPL2019#KKRvRR
— ` (@FourOverthrows) April 25, 2019
According To Some People Ben Stokes Is A Great T20 Player Because He Was The MVP In 2017 IPL And Therefore Warrants The Price Tag Too #KKRvRR
— Chatil Panditasekara (@ChatilPandi) April 25, 2019
https://twitter.com/Bhavik24716038/status/1121471259404115968
https://twitter.com/BeingPahadi6/status/1121471225178546176
https://twitter.com/CricFixEng/status/1121472715070889985
@rajasthanroyals is doing great service to Indian cricket. Playing like this, they are making Virat Kohli look good. #ipl #ipl2019 #KKRvRR
— Anuj Prakash (@Anujmeister) April 25, 2019
Will criticise @DineshKarthik for the treatment of @imkuldeep18 in this @IPL, but great knock by the KKR skipper today, this may very well keep the team's hopes alive of making it to the playoffs! Quality knock! @KKRiders #KKRvRR #Karthik #DineshKarthik #IPL2019
— Vishesh Roy (@vroy38) April 25, 2019
https://twitter.com/AliOnlyshera/status/1121479390058041344
You've got to wonder who was the brains behind dishing out that kind of money on Ben Stokes and Jaydev Unadkat. #IPL2019 #KKRvRR
— Aatreya (@AatreyaBhat) April 25, 2019
@KKRiders @DineshKarthik @iamsrk #KKRvRR KKR fast bowling line up is full of shit and DK is a 3rd grade captain. Why you removed Gurney from the squad?
— Dip (@dipredefined) April 25, 2019