Even without Sunil Narine, who was ill, KKR was so dominant that they didn’t require Andre Russell to bat or throw the ball.
Rajasthan Royals 151 for 9 (Jurel 33, Varun 2-17, Moeen 2-23) were defeated by eight wickets by Kolkata Knight Riders 153 for 2 (de Kock 97).
No issue for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) without Sunil Narine. On a dry, slow Guwahati track, KKR’s new recruit Moeen Ali, who replaced the injured Narine, combined brilliantly with veteran Varun Chakravarthy to keep the Rajasthan Royals (RR) to 151 for 9. KKR didn’t even need Andre Russell with the ball since the two spinners were so excellent that they claimed combined figures of 8-0-40-4.
Then Quinton de Kock, another recent addition, excelled at the top, and KKR no longer needed Russell to handle the ball. De Kock’s undefeated 97 off 61 balls put KKR in the standings and dealt RR their second straight loss of the year.
Parag’s unhappy homecoming
Sanju Samson fell for 13 off 11 balls when he stepped out a bit too early and yorked himself against Vaibhav Arora, but Guwahati’s very own Riyan Parag, who was captaining RR, brought the crowd alive when he crashed the third ball he faced, from Harshit Rana, for a one-handed six. His next six, a lofted checked-drive off Arora over his head in the last over of the powerplay, was even better.
Parag even launched Varun for a six over midwicket when the mystery spinner erred too short. However, Varun remedied his length two balls later, having Parag sky a catch to de Kock, the keeper, with a 113kph dart that veered away from him.
Parag also did his bit with the ball later in the evening, coming away with 4-0-25-0 later and running Moeen out, but his homecoming wasn’t a happy one.
Moeen and Varun interfere with RR’s intentions.
If Narine had been available, Moeen might not have even played. Team coach Dwayne Bravo gave Moeen his first KKR cap, and he scored in his second over when he had an approaching Jaiswal holing out to long-on for 29 off 24 balls. Jaiswal scored 289 runs off 197 balls and was dismissed against spin for the second time in the IPL since 2023.
Similar to how they used R Ashwin in the past, RR attempted to use Hasaranga. The experiment failed, but they moved Hasaranga up to No. 5 as a pinch-hitter or pinch-blocker. He miscued Varun to mid-off for a run-a-ball four after just facing one ball from offspinner Moeen.
The slide triggered by the spinners – RR went from 67 for 1 to 82 for 5 – messed with the hosts’ plans. Shubham Dubey, who wasn’t originally in RR’s bat-first XI, had to brought in at No. 7, which denied them the option of bringing in a frontline bowler in the form of Kumar Kartikeya or Akash Madhwal during their defence.
Varun and Moeen conceded just one six and a four between them. In contrast, RR’s spinners, including part-timers Parag and Nitish Rana, leaked 11 boundaries among them.
That RR crossed 150 was down to late blows from Dhruv Jurel, who top-scored for them with 33 off 28 balls, and Jofra Archer.
De Kock completes the KKR job.
With the bat in the chase, Moeen was not making any progress. Discomfited by Archer’s high bounce and pace, he was on five off eleven balls. He was then ran out for five off twelve when he misplayed with de Kock while attempting to sneak a double off Parag.
On a different day, this innings might have cost KKR the match, but Moeen’s previous performance with the ball and de Kock’s powerful knocks at the other end allowed them to make up for it. KKR’s job was made much easier by the dew that formed later in the evening.
De Kock claimed 34 of the 40 runs that KKR scored during the powerplay after attacking the hard, new ball. He attacked Maheesh Theekshana and Parag after hitting Archer for two boundaries in the third over.
When Rahane was removed for 18 off 15 balls by Hasaranga, who was chosen in place of Fazalhaq Farooqi, RR could have believed they had an opening. But de Kock and 20-year-old Angkrish Raghuvanshi shut them out with a continuous 83-run partnership off 44 balls.
De Kock achieved his half-century off 36 balls when he blasted Hasaranga for six over beyond long-on. He commemorated the achievement by hitting a six of Parag in the following over. De Kock might have struck a century if RR had set KKR a greater goal.
RR’s 151 for 9, their lowest total of the season, stood out like a sore thumb in the 2017 IPL, as so many other teams were hitting hard.