Then the tweakers turned things around.
Rajasthan Royals was looking good with opener Yashasvi Jaiswal and stand-in captain Riyan Parag involved in a promising partnership, after Sanju Samson came forward and made enough room to get himself yorked by Vaibhav Arora.
RR raced to 54 for one by the end of the PowerPlay. KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane then introduced spin, tossing the ball to Moeen Ali, making his debut for the Kolkata franchise in place of the injured Sunil Narine.
The champion off-spinning all-rounder from England would go on to make a fine start with his new IPL team, but it was the spinner that dazzled in India’s recent triumph at the Champions Trophy in the UAE that struck sooner.
Varun Chakaravarthy proved such a wonderful partner in crime for Moeen, and the duo helped the defending champion post its first win of the season.
After restricting RR to 151 for nine, KKR, riding on a superb knock from Quinton de Kock, romped home with eight wickets and 15 balls to spare at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.
The combined figures for Varun and Moeen read four for 40 from eight overs.
The wicket may have looked a bit sticky, but some of the Royals batters were also guilty of gifting away their wickets after getting starts.
Like Parag. He had hit three fine sixes, the last of which was off Varun, over deep mid-wicket. But a couple of balls later in the same over, the skipper skied a catch, which was well taken by wicketkeeper de Kock after running half-way down the pitch.
In the following over, Jaiswal danced down the wicket only to find Harshit Rana at long-on. Varun then removed Wanindu Hasaranga, who was playing his first match for Royals. It took a 28-ball 33 from Dhruv Jurel to ensure the Royals would at least get to 150.
That just wasn’t to be quite enough. de Kock’s unbeaten 97 (61b, 8×4, 6×6) batted RR out of the match.
The host may have sensed a bit of an opportunity when Rahane fell in the 11th over, but Impact Player Angkrish Raghuvanshi lent solid support to the South African.
SCOREBOARD
RAJASTHAN ROYALS
Yashasvi Jaiswal c Harshit b Moeen 29 (24b, 2×4, 2×6), Sanju Samson b Vaibhav 13 (11b, 2×4), Riyan Parag c de Kock b Varun 25 (15b, 3×6), Nitish Rana b Moeen 8 (9b), Wanindu Hasaranga c Rahane b Varun 4 (4b), Dhruv Jurel b Harshit 33 (28b, 5×4), Shubham Dubey (Impact Player for Samson) c Russell b Vaibhav 9 (12b, 1×4), Shimron Hetmyer c Raghuvanshi (Impact Player for Varun) b Harshit 7 (8b, 1×4), Jofra Archer b Johnson 16 (7b, 2×6), Maheesh Theekshana (not out) 1 (1b), Tushar Deshpande (not out) 2 (1b); Extras (w-4): 4; Total (for nine wkts. in 20 overs): 151.
FALL OF WICKETS
1-33 (Samson, 3.5 overs), 2-67 (Parag, 7.5), 3-69 (Jaiswal, 8.4), 4-76 (Hasaranga, 9.5), 5-82 (Nitish, 10.6) 6-110 (Shubham, 14.6), 7-131 (Jurel, 18.1), 8-138 (Hetmyer, 18.6), 9-149 (Archer, 19.5).
KNIGHT RIDERS BOWLING
Johnson 4-0-42-1, Vaibhav 4-0-33-2, Harshit 4-0-36-2, Moeen 4-0-23-2, Varun 4-0-17-2.
KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS
Moeen Ali run out 5 (12b), Quinton de Kock (not out) 97 (61b, 8×4, 6×6), Ajinkya Rahane c Deshpande b Hasaranga 18 (15b, 1×4, 1×6), Angkrish Raghuvanshi (not out) 22 (17b, 2×4); Extras (lb-2, w-9): 11; Total (for two wkts. in 17.3 overs): 153.
FALL OF WICKETS
1-41 (Moeen, 6.1), 2-70 (Rahane, 10.1).
ROYALS BOWLING
Archer 2.3-0-33-0, Theekshana 4-0-32-0, Parag 4-0-25-0, Sandeep 2-0-11-0, Hasaranga 3-0-34-1, Nitish 1-0-9-0, Deshpande 1-0-7-0.
Toss: KKR.
PoM: de Kock.
KKR won by eight wickets with 15 balls to spare.
KKR 118/2 in 15 overs
de Kock (73) and Raghuvanshi (19) were batting while Moeen (5) and Rahane (18) were dismissed
Published – March 26, 2025 11:55 pm IST