THE MOR, THE MERRIER
All-rounder Chris takes 4/23 to help Rajasthan to an easy win over Kolkata
MUMBAI: Rajasthan Royals notched up a facile six-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL here on Saturday. After restricting Kolkata to 133 for nine, Rajasthan reached the target with seven balls to spare.
Rajasthan all-rounder Chris Morris was the chief architect of his side’s win, finishing with impressive figures of four for 23. He claimed the scalps of key batsmen such as Andre Russell and Dinesh Karthik, both dismissed in the same over, besides getting rid of the dangerous Pat Cummins.
In Rajasthan’s previous win against Delhi Capitals, Morris proved his worth with his bat and after his heroics with the ball on Saturday, he has gone some way towards justifying the tag of the costliest player in the IPL history. The Eoin Morgan-led side has some serious thinking to do to get its season back on track after losing its last four matches.
Rajasthan, meanwhile, recorded its second win in five matches. Despite losing Jos Buttler early in its chase, Rajasthan never let the required runrate spiral out of control with the young southpaw Yashasvi Jaiswal hitting five boundaries in quick succession in a nice cameo of 22 (17b, 5x4). Rajasthan scored exactly 50 runs after the conclusion of powerplay losing both the openers. The onus was then on its captain, Sanju Samson, to steer its team to safety and, after flattering to deceive on many occasions in the past, the 26-yearold mixed caution with aggression in a well-constructed innings of 42 not out (41b, 2x4, 1x6).
He received good support from Shivam Dube 22 (18b, 2x4, 1x6) and the duo raised 45 runs for the third wicket in 36 balls. Rahul Tewatia failed yet again falling to Prasidh Krishna for just 5, but in the company of David Miller who remained unbeaten on 24 (23b, 3x4), Samson guided his team to a deserving win.
Earlier, Morris was effective at the death yet again as Rajasthan pacers combined accuracy and guile to restrict Kolkata. Rajasthan pacers, who were smart with change of pace, stifled the Kolkata batsmen who could not find a way to deal with it after being put in to bat.
Morris, the most expensive player in the IPL auction history, proved his worth with a four-wicket haul.
The other pacers, Jaydev Unadkat (1/25), Chetan Sakariya (1/31) and Mustafizur Rahman (1/22), were also impressive. Kolkata was not able to find rhythm in its underwhelming innings. The highly rated Shubman Gill (11) disappointed yet again. He was dropped before his uncomfortable stay in the middle finally ended with a run out off a brilliant direct hit from Jos Buttler.
Brief scores:
Kolkata Knight Riders 133/9 in 20 overs (R Tripathi 36, C Morris 4/23) lost to Rajasthan Royals 134/4 in 18.5 overs (S Samson 42*, D Miller 24*)
We took a pasting last time against a very good team on a good surface. So, I am quite pleased that we came out today and restricted KKR to 133. Ahead of the game, we did quite a lot of homework on how to get some batsmen out
Chris Morris, Rajasthan Royals all-rounder