Ajinkya Rahane and Jos Buttler started the batting for Rajasthan and Rahane scored 5 runs off the very first over, but in the first ball of next over Rahane (5 out; 7b; 1X4) was sent back with an LBW by Pradish Krishna. Jos Buttler and Steve Smith started building a partnership. The run progress was slow, but Butler and Smith were putting up a decent total on the board, occasionally hitting the visitors. On the 12th over, Buttler (37 out; 34b; 5X4, 1X6) hits a six off Harry Gurney’s fourth ball, but trying to hit the next ball off for a six he was caught by Subman Gill inches away from the boundary line, leaving Rajasthan at 77-2 at the end of 12th over. Steve Smith kept the run flowing, but his partner Rahul Tripathi (6 out; 8b) soon succumbed to Harry Gurney, trying to look for a big shot and only hitting the ball with the edge of the bat, Rajasthan at 105-3. In last 4 overs, Smith (73 not out; 59b; 7X4, 1X6) tried all he could do to put up a good total to defend, and at end 139 with the loss of 3 wickets was settled by Rajathan after 20 over’s.
The second innings was shortened by KKR’s good batting. Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn opened the second innings and started to build a partnership. Narine starting the hits, and Lynn followed suit. Within the powerplay alone, the duo managed to chase 65 runs, with Tripathi missing a chance to finish off Narine at the 4th over. After an excellent 91 runs partnership, Shreyas Gopal finally gets first break for RR as Narine (47 out; 25b; 6X4, 3X6) edges the ball to Smith at slip, taking a swift catch. Lynn (50 out; 32b; 6X4, 3X6) departed soon after just after completing his half-century; Shreyas Gopal strikes again, KKR at 114-2. With two new batsmen on the crease, it seemed like RR had a chance to turn things around in their favor with a couple of tight overs. But Robin Uthhapa (26 not out; 16b; 1X4, 2X6) took charge of the situation with Subhuman Gill (6 not out; 10b) backing him up, led KKR to level the score. Ben Strokes concluded the game for Rajasthan with a wide, Kolkata won by 8 wickets with 37 balls to spare.
