The match between the 2008 and 2012 champions turned into a battle of bowlers, where the more accomplished bowling team failed against RR who are used to winning close low scoring matches. The Kallis vs Dravid show did not succeed with bat as Kallis failed, and even Rahul could not do much. But Rahul succeeded as a captain making the right decisions, starting from the team selection to changing the bowlers. In the end Morgan fought for KKR but the three double whammy overs by RR did not let them rise. The home team won their first home game by 19 runs, going on top of the table.
Match Facts
- Siddharth Trivedi received MoM.
50+ wicket takers in IPL: Siddharth Trivedi (56 wkts)
Final Score: 144/6 (RR), (KKR)
6 overs: 35/1 (RR), 40/2 (KKR)
10 overs 63/2 (RR), 55/5 (KKR)
50 runs: 9 ov (RR), 8.4 ov (KKR)
100 runs: 15 ov (RR), 15.2 ov (KKR)
6s/4s: 2/17 (RR), 4/8 (KKR)
Best Bowling: 1/20 Brett Lee, 2/28 Narine (KKR), 3/15 Cooper, 3/23 Trivedi (RR)
Best Batting: 46* Hodge (RR), 51 Morgan (KKR)
RRs Inning
Sent to Bat first Rajasthan Royals broke the successful opening pair and Captain Dravid sent Watson ahead to give him more time. Dravid came at number 3. Lee and Shami Ahmed gave a perfect start to KKR with RRs score reading only 27/1 after their 5 overs. Watson (5 runs) struggle continued as after bowling almost a maiden to him in the first over, Brett Lee had him caught by Morgan.
Captain Dravid walked in at 2.4 overs to join his regular opening partner Rahane. But the pressure continued. Rajat Bhatia bowled Dravid (17 runs in 20 balls with 2 boundaries) in the 8th over. Rahane took the total to 63/2 in 10 overs with Binny (14 runs, 11 balls, 3 boundaries) who was bowled by Laxmi Shukla on the first ball of 11th over. Hodge started his inning with a boundary. But KKR bowlers kept the pressure on. Both of them took the score to 100/3 after 15 overs. But 16th over saw double whammy from Narine in the company of Bisla as Rahane (36, 34 balls, one six and 3 boundaries) and Cooper (0) went leaving KKR reeling at 101/5 after 16th over. Wicketkeeper Yagnik joined Hodge and in 4 overs both added 35 runs when Yagnik (16 runs, 11 balls, a boundary and a six) was run out in the last over. Hodge (46*, 31 balls, 7 boundaries) and Sreesanth (1* run) took the total to a decent 145 runs.
In Dravid’s word they were 15-20 runs short of a good score. Apart from Hodge’s fight the RR innings would be remembered for a confident six and boundary hit by Yagnik on the bowling of Narine in the 19th over which also saw Hodge hitting him for 4 runs as Narine bled 18 runs in the over.
The KKR bowlers did a good job. Brett Lee (20/1) was the pioneer, Shami Ahmed (26/0) was expensive, Narine (28/2) had a double whammy, while Kallis (28/0) did not let RR go loose. Rajat Bhatia (21/1) and Laxmi Shukla (14/1) also kept the run rate low.
KKRs Chase of 145 runs
KKR were the favorite to win, but RR has the habit of score between 140-160 runs. They did not disappoint their home crowd in their first game at Jaipur. Gambhir hit Sreesanth for a six and a boundary in the first over to get 14 runs in first over. Tait gave only 4 runs in the next over. As R Shukla was introduced in the third over, the first of the three double whammy’s to rock KKR innings came. He had Bisla bowled on 1 and then the big wicket of Kallis on duck.
Another double whammy came in the 7th over when Trivedi, the Player of the Match, got Manoj Tiwary (14 runs, 13 balls, 1 four) and Gambhir (22 runs, 22 balls, 1 four, 1 six). The score read 43/4. The talented Cooper started his mission and got the dangerous Yusuf Pathan on duck in the 8th over. Morgan had was dropped in the 9th over and he went on to challenge RR alone, although unsuccessfully. In his next over Trivedi gave another jolt to KKR by getting Laxmi Shukla in the 11th over. Rajat Bhatia joined hands with Morgan. Just when it appeared the match was slipping off, both started the counter attack. But arrival of Tait in 15th over saw Bhatia (12 runs, 7 balls, 2 boundaries) back to pavilion. On the other end Morgan continued firing. Sreesanth also tasted success in the 16th over sending Brett Lee (5 runs, 6 balls, 1 boundary) back to the dug out. Morgan’s attack on Tait and Co was appearing threatening in the company of Shami Ahmed although only 2 wickets remained.
Cooper’s 19th over was the third and killing double whammy for KKR as first he bowled Morgan (51 runs, 38 balls, 3 boundaries, 3 sixes) and then he had Shami Ahmed (5 runs, 10 balls) caught by Rahane.
RR created an upset by defeating the defending champions by a margin of 19 runs with one over remaining.
Bowlers got the match for RR taking them to the top of Points Table. Sreesanth (25/1), Tait (29/1), R Shukla (28/2) got hit but took wickets at the right time. Trivedi (23/3) was the hero, while Cooper (15/3) grabbed wicket to cool the nerves of RR fans.
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