IPL 2020 KKR vs RR: A captains knock from Morgan followed by Cummins heroics helps KKR defeat Rajasthan by 60 runs

IPL 2020 KKR vs RR: A captains knock from Morgan followed by Cummins heroics helps KKR defeat Rajasthan by 60 runs
Eoin Morgan during KKR vs RR

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) defeated Rajasthan Royals (RR) after a game-changing performance from skipper Eoin Morgan and pacer Pat Cummins. KKR defeated RR by 60 runs as RR are knocked out of Dream11 IPL 2020. KKR however still hasn’t qualified for the playoffs as they depend on results from the remaining two games to go in their favor.

Steven Smith won the toss and opted to bowl first, a common trend in the second half of the tournament. KKR started poorly with Nitish Rana getting out for a golden duck after a match-defining knock in the previous game. Shubhman Gill and Rahul Tripathi then partnered for a fifty run stand till the 9th over. Gill lost his wicket to Tewatia after scoring 36 runs in 24 balls. Sunil Narine also got out for a two-ball duck as KKR were reduced to 73/3 in 8.6 overs.

Things turned out even more difficult after set batsman Tripathi fell for 39 runs to Shreyas Gopal in the 12th over. Dinesh Karthik also followed the other batsman and was out for a first-ball duck. KKR looked in deep trouble with 99/5 in the 13th over. However, skipper Eoin Morgan then played the most crucial innings for KKR and bailed out his team. Morgan scored a half-century and helped KKR finish for a very good total of 191/7 after 20 overs.

Morgan made 68 from just 35 balls with 5 fours and 6 sixes. Andre Russell coming back from injury made quick 25 runs from 11 balls with 3 sixes and a four. Tewatia picked two wickets while Tyagi took 2 wickets. Jofra Archer and Shreyas Gopal took one wicket each for RR.

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Pat Cummins bowls his best figures in IPL

KKR players celebrating during KKR vs RR

Rajsthan Royals chasing a massive target of 192 runs in a do or die game, were given no chance by a dominant KKR bowling lineup. Pat Cummins stood out to be the difference for the two sides with his brilliant display of fast bowling along with Shivam Mavi.

Cummins took the wickets of RR top three of Robin Uthappa, Ben Stokes,and Steven Smith and handicapped the RR run-chase. Sanju Samson could add only one run and was dismissed by Shivam Mavi. Jos Buttler tried to change the momentum of the game towards RR and played some handy shots. However, he also got out to Varun Chakravarty after making 35 runs.

Rahul Tewatia and Shreyas Gopal tried to keep the chase going with 31 and 23 runs contributions respectively. However, that was not enough as KKR defeated RR by a huge margin of 60 runs.

KKR have moved to the fourth position with a 7th win of IPL 2020. They have 14 points but are below DC and RCB due to a lower net run rate. RR on the other hand finish the tournament in the bottom position as CSK won their final game

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