Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh’s batting blitz helps KKR end a losing streak; RR stumbles for a 2nd consecutive defeat

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ended their five game losing streak in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 with a seven wicket win against Rajasthani Royals (RR) on Monday. A brilliant partnership between Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh sees KKR over the line as they recorded their fourth win of the season while RR suffered their second loss in a row and missed the chance to climb to second in the table .

Samson’s bad luck with the draw continued as KKR opted to play first while Shreyas Iyer announced the big news of the removal of versatile Venkatesh Iyer from the playing XI. Umesh Yadav produced an early wicket for the double champions by dismissing young fly-half Devdutt Padikkal for just 2 runs. Orange cap holder Jos Buttler looked far from his best and played a scratched 22-for-25 run before Tim Southee ended his time in the crease.

Skipper Sanju Samson held the base from start to finish and reached his second half of the season. However, his shot came at an unusually low strike rate of 110.20. Karun Nair and Riyan Parag both fell for low scores as KKR bowlers did an outstanding job down the middle. However, Shimron Hetmyer continued his incredible form at IPL 2022 and gave RR a quick finish with a 27-for-13 shot to help them finish with a competitive 152 on the board.

New Zealand pacer Tim Southee was the bowlers’ choice with two wickets to his name. Umesh Yadav, Ankul Roy and Shivam Mavi took one wicket. KKR’s pursuit got off to a disastrous start as Australia’s T20 World Cup-winning captain’s poor form continued after he was sacked by Kuldeep Sen for just 4 shots. Finch’s opener, Baba Indrajiith, was fired after scoring a 16-ball 15.

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Skipper Shreyas got KKR’s innings back on track with a solid 34-by-32 shot before edging a bowling leg-side delivery from Trent Boult. Nitish Rana turned the game’s momentum in KKR’s favor by launching an assault on Ravichandran Ashwin’s bowling alley.

Rana received effective support from Rinku Singh who ensured that Shreyas’ loss of the wicket didn’t hurt KKR’s momentum. The duo ensured RR’s legendary spin-bowling pair Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal ended without a wicket. Rana and Rinku set up a 50-run partnership and ensured RR went home comfortable with balls to spare. Both played extremely composed undefeated shots to help their team over the line after five straight losses.

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