Sharjah, Oct 7 : Kolkata Knight Riders started slow but ended up registering 171/4 in 20 overs, the highest score at this venue in IPL 2021, against Rajasthan Royals in Match 54 of the tournament here on Thursday.
For Kolkata, Shubman Gill top-scored with a stylish 56 while other batters around him smacked boundaries as Rajasthan did not take any advantage of the slow pitch.
After asking to bat first, Kolkata had a sedate start with 34/0 in power-play, including four boundaries.Post that, Venkatesh Iyer hit Jaydev Unadkat for a four through short third man followed by two sixes down the ground and over long-on.
Rahul Tewatia broke the 79-run opening stand in the 11th over as Iyer missed a straight delivery and was bowled through his legs.Nitish Rana welcomed Glenn Phillips with a four and six in the next over.
But Phillips had the last laugh on the fifth ball as Rana was caught off the toe-end at long-off.
Rahul Tripathi tore into Shivam Dube, taking back-to-back boundaries in the 14th over.
Amidst all this, Gill held one end while finding boundaries in between.Gill brought up his fifty with a boundary off Chetan Sakariya in the 15th over, his second of the season.
Gill whipped Chris Morris for a boundary in the next over.But a wide later, Gill mistimed a loft to cover, giving Morris his first wicket of the UAE leg.
Sakariya returned in the 18th over to disturb a sweeping Tripathi’s stumps.Dinesh Karthik and Eoin Morgan landed some lusty blows in the last few overs to take Kolkata to a challenging total
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