Kolkata move to top
Kolkata Knight Riders moved to the top of the Indian Premier League table with a comfortable seven-wicket victory against Rajasthan Royals in Jaipur yesterday.
Dinesh karthik's men made light work of a 161-run target, reducing the chase to 18.5 overs.
Opener Sunil Narine and one-down Robin Uthappa put on a 69-run second-wicket to lay the platform for victory after Chris Lynn was dismissed for naught. Skipper Karthik fittingly hit a six to wrap up the chase in the penultimate delivery of the penultimate over.
Earlier, the wily spin attack of KKR restricted Royals to 160 for eight in their stipulated 20 overs. The trio of Piyush Chawla, Kuldeep Yadav and part-timer Nitish Rana conceded 52 runs in 10 overs, sharing four wickets among themselves.
Royals, put in to bat, were not able to build on the start provided by captain Ajinkya Rahane (36 off 19) and D'Arcy Short (44 off 43) after the openers shared a 54-run stand off 41 balls.
The win took KKR to six points and above Sunrisers Hyderabad due to superior net run-rate. However, KKR have already played five matches against three matches played by SRH, who will take on King's XI Punjab today.
SCORES IN BRIEF
Rajasthan Royals: 160 for 8 in 20 overs (Rahane 36, Short 44, Buttler 24 not out; Rana 2-11, Curran 2-19)
Kolkata Knight Riders: 163 for 3 in 18.5 overs (Uthappa 48, Narine 35, Karthik 42 not out; Gowtham 2-23)
Result: KKR won by seven wickets
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