When Nandre Burger dropped a sitter in the 11th over of Kolkata Knight Riders' run chase, letting Rinku Singh off, Ajinkya Rahane's face, a mixture of tension and relief, said it all. For the Knights, the equation then read 83 required off 54 balls with five wickets in hand.
To their good fortune, Rinku finally pulled in his weight and made good use of that lucky reprieve, helping the Knight Riders prevail over Rajasthan Royals by four wickets and register their maiden win of this IPL at Eden Gardens on Sunday.
Rinku remained unbeaten on 53 (off 34 balls), while left-arm spinner Anukul Roy (29 not out off 16 balls), who didn't get to bowl earlier, gave him a fine assist in their unbroken 76-run partnership that helped KKR overahul the Royals' 155/9 with two balls remaining.
The win comes as a relief for KKR, though their batting remains a huge concern. From captain Rahane to Angkrish Raghuvanshi, everyone in the top order looked clueless.
However, Rinku regaining some rhythm certainly bodes well for the Knights. Despite that let off, he didn't seem flustered and was rather keen on settling down. Once he had his eye in, Rinku went a tad deeper into the crease and unleashed timely strokes against both the in-form bowlers, Ravi Bishnoi and Jofra Archer, to eventually confirm two points for KKR.
Perfect platform
On a pitch that was a little drier because of the weather and on the slower side as well, playing Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine was a challenge for the Royals. Both spinners used the conditions to their advantage, with Varun — braving pain in the last two fingers on his left hand, which were fractured earlier in the tournament — varying his pace and adusting his line to account for a set Vaibhav Sooryavanshi, Dhruv Jurel and skipper Riyan Parag.
Narine dismissed Yashasvi Jaiswal, before pacer Kartik Tyagi (3/22) did well again in the slog overs, effecting Shimron Hetmyer and Ravindra Jadeja's dismissals. The platform for KKR's victory was laid then itself.