Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh offset an early wobble and ensured Kolkata Knight Riders chased down 153 to snap their five-match losing streak, on a slow, grippy Wankhede Stadium track.
After Trent Boult and Prasidh Krishna had made early inroads for Rajasthan Royals, Rana and Rinku dismantled R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal respectively to bring the target within Knight Riders’ reach.
Rana cracked Ashwin for 23 off 14 balls on Monday, taking his overall head-to-head to 99 off 52 balls without being dismissed by the spinner in the IPL.
He first forged a 60-run third-wicket partnership with Shreyas Iyer (34) and then a livelier 66-run stand with Rinku to usher Knight Riders home.
Sanju Samson’s wretched luck with the toss continued – he has won only one out of ten tosses this IPL – but despite that Royals made a decent fist of their defence by dragging it deep.
However, with 31 needed off 18 balls, Rinku whacked back-to-back fours off Chahal to effectively kill off the game.
It was Rana who ultimately finished it with five balls to spare, with an uppercut six off Kuldeep Sen.
