Dubai, Nov 1: Rajasthan Royals will look to sustain the momentum against Kolkata Knight Riders in another must-win IPL 2020 game on Sunday (November 1).
The Royals can certainly look forward to their batting at the Dubai International Stadium. Their talismanic England all-rounder Ben Stokes has won a Man-of-the-Match award, having made a breezy half-century after picking up two wickets, in the team's win over Kings XI Punjab. Sanju Samson rediscovering his touch must have also gladdened the hearts of the RR team management.
Jofra Archer has been the standout performer with the ball and he will again shoulder RR's responsibility in bowling.
Despite having 12 points, KKR's road to the playoffs looks the toughest, thanks to their abysmal net run rate. Their only chance of qualification is if they beat Royals and finish on 14 points, with none of the other contenders reaching that tally.
That seems improbable, the last two successive losses badly hurting their prospects. Nevertheless, the likes of Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, captain Eoin Morgan in batting and Varun Chakravarthy, Pat Cummins and Kamlesh Nagarkoti with the ball would like to give it their all.
Here are the match updates:
And it's over here in Dubai. A clinical show from the Kolkata Knight Riders see them clinch a massive 60-run win over the Rajasthan Royals
Final over from Nagarkoti
Aaron the new batsman in
WICKET No. 9! Mavi takes it on the rebound to remove Tyagi for 2 off 3.
WICKET! Nagarkoti removes Archer
Nagarkoti bowls the 18th over for KKR
Back-to-back fours for Shreyas Gopal off Sunil Narine. RR - 123/7 in 17 overs.
Close call for stumped, but Archer's foot was grounded. RR - 117/7 in 16.4
WICKET! Royals last hope goes as Varun Chakravarthy dismisses Rahul Tewatia for 31. RR - 107/7 in 15 overs.
After 9 overs, RR have reached 66/5. And it's Time Out!
SIX!! Jos Buttler hammers Sunil Narine over his head for a maximum. Buttler and Rahul Tewatia are Rajasthan's only hope in this run chase.
11 runs came from Kamlesh Nagarkoti's first over and RR reach 56/5 in 8 overs.
50 up for RR in the 8th over.
After 7 overs, RR reach 45/5 in the run chase of 192.
At the end of powerplay, KKR are on top as they have reduced RR to 41/5 in 6 overs.
WICKET!! Cummins strikes again as RR lose half their side with the dismissal of Riyan Parag. RR - 37/5 in 5 overs.
Two WICKETS fall in quick succession as Cummins castles Smith and Shivam Mavi gets rid off Sanju Samson. RR - 32/4 in 4 overs.
Big Wicket!! Ben Stokes (18) gets a thick edge off Pat Cummins and Dinesh Karthik dives towards his left to pull off a one-handed stunner. The batsman can't believe his eyes with DK's effort. RR - 28/2 in 2.2 overs.
After 2nd over, RR reach 27/1. Stokes 18* and Smith 0* are present into the middle for their team.
Lucky! Ben Stokes a Run Out chance as Shivam Mavi fails to collect the ball well.
Wicket!! Uthappa falls for 6! What an over this has been for Cummins? He's been hit for 19 runs and gets a wicket on the final ball of the over. RR - 19/1 after 1st over.
4! Ben Stokes also gets off the mark in style. He gets a boundary off Cummins.
2nd innings! Robin Uthappa and Ben Stokes open innings for RR and Uthappa welcomes Pat Cummins with a SIX!
The only scenario in which KKR will qualify to the playoffs.
If #KKR win by 79 runs or #RR win inside 13.4 overs, they are assured of a Play-Off spot (presuming DC-RCB match doesn't end in a no result).#KKRvRR #IPL2020
— Deepu Narayanan (@deeputalks) November 1, 2020
Rahul Tripathi: The pitch was seaming around initially and slowly it became good for batting. It's important to hit the good areas with the new ball. The last time we played here dew came into play and we are expecting the dew will come into play tonight as well and I think the target is still not easy to chase. He (Archer) was bowling well and I was looking forward to getting some runs, but after that initial wicket, we wanted to see him off and target the other bowlers. It's a great end to the innings and we lost 2-3 wickets in the middle overs and the end was fantastic. It's a really good total on the board. If we get a good win here, then we are definitely into the playoffs.
End of the innings! Morgan finishes innings with a biggie on the final ball of the innings. KKR have posted 191/7 in 20 overs. Morgan - 68* off 35 balls shines for the Knights.
Wicket! Cummins edges Kartik Tyagi and Samson takes a good diving catch. KKR - 184/7 in 19.2 overs.
1,6,1,6,6,4! 24 runs leaked by Stokes and KKR reach 182/6 in 19 overs. Morgan and Cummins made it a big one for Knight Riders.
Ben Stokes in Overs 16-20 in T20s since 2019
— The CricViz Analyst (@cricvizanalyst) November 1, 2020
13 overs
155 runs
11.92 rpo
5 wickets
4 balls per boundary#IPL2020 #KKRvRR #KKR #RR
SIX!! Eoin Morgan gets to his fifty with a maximum.
SIX!! Pat Cummins hits Ben Stokes for a maximum over long-off. Bowled into the slot and gets the treatment in deserved.