Sanju Samson on the wicket then. Then suddenly the comparison of the captains of the two teams was drawn on the TV screen. Samson of Rajasthan Royals on one side and Shreyas Iyer of Kolkata Knight Riders on the other. The performance of the two captains in this year's IPL is almost the same. Both are running equally on average. However, Samson is well ahead in the strike rate.
Today, however, the difference between the two was much less. But Samson was ahead in the run again. But Iyer smiled at the end of the match. Kolkata won by 6 wickets with 5 balls in hand. Kolkata won after five consecutive defeats.
This time in the IPL, the two teams have become almost one horse team. Lucknow Super Giants are totally dependent on Lokesh Rahul's bat, Rajasthan is also very dependent on Jos Butler. Butler, who has already scored three centuries, has failed. The plan was to attack the innings with a little tough wicket. But after playing 25 balls, the English opener left with only 22 runs.
Samson has scored 150 strikeouts in the IPL. Butler is back today. So the captain had to play two roles, keeping the wheel of the run with the attack. But Samson failed to take the storm today. The plan to create a storm at the end of one end did not work. Samson, who made 54 off 49 balls, returned the first ball of the 18th over. The team's run was only 115!
Shimron Hetmeyer got the rhythm back today. Rajasthan got 36 runs from the remaining 18 balls. Hetmeyer made 26 runs from 13 balls. However, Kolkata got the target of only 153 runs.
Kolkata has proved that it is also difficult for a team that has lost five matches in a row. Aaron Finch and Baba Indrajith are back in the power play. Captain Iyer and in-form Nitish Rana then took the helm. The pair came up with 60 runs. Then push.
The umpire did not dismiss Iyer with Bolt's ball. But Samson, who was behind the wicket, was sure that the ball came to him as soon as he touched the gloves. So did not hesitate to take the review. Kolkata captain returned with only 34 runs from 32 balls.
The work in Calcutta has become easier by then. Only 61 runs were needed from 43 balls. Rinku Singh hit four off the first ball to bring it down to 56. Big hitters like Andre Russell and Sunil Narine are still waiting in the dugout. But only 16 runs came from the next three overs. Famous Krishna also got only 6 runs from the 16th over.
Rhythm changes in the 16th over. Yuzbendra Chahal's first two balls have four rinkurs, the next two balls. The target is reduced from 15 to 21. At the end of the over it is 16.
Famous Krishna made a great start in the 19th over. But wide in the third ball, Rinku got four with the cover in Trent Bolt's missfield in the next ball. Kolkata got 18 runs in the 19th over with three more wides and one four!
Kolkata needed only 1 run in the last over. Nitish completed the formality by hitting a six off Kuldeep Sen's first ball. Nitish was unbeaten on 47 off 36 balls. Rinku's 42 runs came from 23 balls.
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