RR vs KKR | No Narine no problem as Moeen-Varun stifle Rajasthan to setup comfortable chase

Yashasvi Jaiswal got the encounter off to an action packed start after KKR won the toss and chose to bowl first as he tried to hook a ferocious Spencer Johnson bumper first up, only to find the top edge and tally four runs from the effort. His opening partner Sanju Samson adopted the same intent as well and despite the Kolkata new-ball seamers find swing in the air and zip off the surface, the visitors had raced to 26 in just three overs. Vaibhav Arora eventually provided KKR the first breakthrough in the fourth over when he managed to anticipate a charging Samson and yorked the batter to send his leg-stump flying, ending a first-wicket stand of 33. Nevertheless, stand-in skipper Riyan Parag kept the impetus going with a few lusty strikes of his own, taking the powerplay score to 54/1. Skipper Ajinkya Rahane took the opportunity to bring on spinners Varun Chakravarthy and Moeen Ali to stem proveedings and the plan worked like a charm. The duo combined for four wickets in as many overs to send both incumbent batters as well as Wanindu Hasaranga and Nitish Rana back to the hut, forcing Rajasthan to bring in extra batter Shubham Dubey as an impact substitute with the score 82/5.

It made little difference though as the batter departed for a measly nine to Vaibhav Arora, leaving the onus on Dhruv Jurel to take them to a par score. The youngster responded with a 28-ball 33 featuring five boundaries but was unable to showcase the kind of hitting he is capable of and it ultimately took a seven-ball cameo from Jofra to take the team past 150. In response, the English pacer then continued his form with the ball as well to have Moeen Ali in disarray during the first over with some prodigous swing and zip off the surface, albeit without any success. The veteran opener decided to bide his time as he found the going difficult against Maheesh Theekshana too, the privilege largely affordable due to Quinton de Kock’s frequent boundary hits at the other end. The visitors had racked up 40 by the end of the powerplay but Moeen’s resistance all went in vain when an absurd mix-up ended his 11-ball stay on the first ball of the seventh over. Rajane walked in next to stitch together a brief cameo of 18 but the fixture of QdK combined with the small target meant there was never enough pressure exerted on KKR throughout their chase despite some disciplined bowling. When crunch time arrived, the Proteas clutched his moment with multiple maximums, ending unbeaten on 97 and sealing the win with 13 balla to spare.

RR might finish somewhere near the bottom of the table. Long way to go but not looking good at the moment.

— Bharath Ramaraj (@Fancricket12) March 26, 2025