Karthik, Russell set up clash with SRH for a place in final

Kolkata Knight Riders snatched victory from the jaws of defeat as they came out on top against Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League (IPL) Eliminator by 25 runs at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata. Chasing a fighting target of 170, Rajasthan openers Ajinkya Rahane and Rahul Tripathi got off to a flying start and started to hit boundaries from the word go. The duo put on a 47-run partnership for the opening wicket in just 5 overs and at this point RR were looking in complete control of the chase.

However, spinner Piyush Chawla did the trick for the home side as he scalped the wicket of Tripathi for 20. That brought Sanju Samson to the crease and he along with skipper Rahane started to build another good partnership for Rajasthan.
The duo played risk-free cricket and took RR’s score over the 100-run mark relying mostly on singles and doubles. But Rahane’s vigil out in the middle finally ended when we was dismissed by Kuldeep Yadav for 46 and that brought down the curtains a brilliant 62-run stand for the second wicket.

But with eight wickets in hand, Rajasthan were still favourites to win the match and Samson was going good on the other end as well. The youngster brought up his third fifty of the season off just 37 deliveries following the dismissal of Rahane. But Samson lost his concentration after completing his fifty as he became Chawla’s second . Stuart Binny too followed suit soon as he was dismissed by Prasidh Krishna for a duck.

Andre Russell bowled an excellent penultimate over of the innings as he gave away just 6 runs and that titled the match firmly in the favour of the home side. Needing 34 off the last over, RR batsmen were never really up for it as Prasidh bowled another good over and the away side eventually fell short by 25 runs.