Gambhir-led KKR triumph over Rajasthan

KKR made no changes to their playing eleven.

RR made three changes to their playing eleven – Rahul Dravid, Johan Botha and Nayan Doshi made way for Faiz Fazal, Ajinkya Rahane and Shaun Tait.

On winning the toss, Gautam Gambhir, KKR’s skipper, chose to field.

The first Powerplay of RR’s innings – which was the mandatory Powerplay – was between the first and the sixth over. They scored 36, and lost a couple of wickets.

Shane Watson, whose 13-ball innings included a couple of boundaries, scored 11. Twenty-two balls into the match, Lakshmipathy Balaji broke the 24-run stand.

Amit Paunikar, whose run-a-ball innings included a couple of boundaries, scored 15. Half-a-dozen balls (Bis)later, he was stumped by Manvinder. Iqbal Abdulla broke the four-run stand.

RR scored 50 off 8.3 overs (52 balls). KKR had conceded a couple of extras at that point.

The third-wicket pair put on 10. Fazal, who faced four balls, scored three. Thirteen balls after Paunikar’s dismissal, Fazal ran him out.

The fourth-wicket pair put on five. Abhishek Raut, whose 15-ball innings included a boundary, scored 11. Seven balls later, Shakib Al Hasan and Bisla ran him out.

Ross Taylor, who faced nine balls, scored half-a-dozen. Seventeen balls later, he was stumped by Bisla. Yusuf Pathan broke the 24-run stand.

Ajinkya Rahane, who faced nine balls, scored half-a-dozen. Fourteen balls later, Balaji broke the 11-run stand.

Ashok Menaria, whose 17-ball innings included a boundary and a six, scored 21. Five balls later, he was caught by Rajat Bhatia. Balaji broke the one-run stand.

Shane Warne, RR’s skipper, faced half-a-dozen balls, scoring three. He was unbeaten.

Amit Singh, who faced a couple of balls, didn’t get off the mark. Four balls later, Shakib broke the one-run stand.

The ninth-wicket pair didn’t get off the mark. Tait, who faced a ball, didn’t open his account. The next ball, he was dismissed by Shakib.

Siddharth Trivedi, who faced a couple of balls, didn’t get off the mark. Three balls later, Brett Lee broke the one-run stand.

KKR eventually conceded five extras. RR were bundled out for 15.2 overs.

Bhatia, who bowled a wicketless over, conceded five.

Pathan, who bowled a couple of overs, conceded 10. He picked up a wicket.

Lee, who bowled 2.2 overs, conceded a dozen. He picked up a wicket.

Abdulla, who bowled three overs, conceded 18. He picked up a wicket.

Shakib, who bowled four overs, conceded 21. He picked up a couple of wickets.

Balaji, who bowled three overs, conceded 15. He picked up three scalps.  

The first Powerplay of KKR’s innings – which was the mandatory Powerplay – was between the first and the sixth over. They scored 26, and lost a wicket.

KKR’s openers didn’t get off the mark. Jacques Kallis, who faced a couple of balls, didn’t open his account. A couple of balls later, he was caught by Taylor off the bowling of Tait.

Bisla, who faced 22 balls, scored just nine. Forty-one balls later, he was caught by Raut. Warne broke the 31-run stand.

KKR scored 50 off 11 overs (67 balls). RR had conceded nine extras at that point.

The third-wicket pair put on 50 off 42 balls. While Gambhir’s contribution to the partnership was 14, Manoj Tiwary’s contribution to it was 30. Extras’ contribution to the partnership was half-a-dozen.

Gambhir, whose run-a-ball innings included three boundaries, eventually scored 35. He was unbeaten, as was Tiwary, who eventually scored 30. His 26-ball innings included five boundaries and a six.

RR eventually conceded 11 extras. KKR, who scored 85 for the loss of a couple of wickets off 13.5 overs, won by eight wickets with 37 balls to spare.

Trivedi and Singh bowled a wicketless over apiece. While the former conceded eight, the latter had no reason to be in seventh heaven.

Watson bowled four wicketless overs, conceding 20.

Tait bowled 3.5 overs, conceding 29. He picked up a wicket, as did Warne, who bowled four overs, conceding 17.