RESULT
21st Match (N), Jaipur, April 07, 2019, Indian Premier League
(13.5/20 ov, T:140) 140/2

KKR won by 8 wickets (with 37 balls remaining)

Player Of The Match
2/25
harry-gurney
Cricinfo's MVP
69.14 ptsImpact List
sunil-narine
New
KKR
Full commentary

11:14pm That is all from our coverage tonight. Thanks for joining!

Harry Gurney: It was a pitch that suited my cutter options and a nice one to make my debut one. I always work hard on my slower ball options, have a couple of them, and my yorker, didn't bowl too much of that today. I am working on a knuckle ball but I don't think it'll be ready for the IPL this year. Hopefully use it back at home.

Harry Gurney is the Man of the Match.

Dinesh Karthik: Clinical effort. The bowlers bowled well and the batters backed it up. In India you get to play on a lot of slow surfaces and you have to adapt. The boys are doing a decent job.

Chris Lynn: Rode my luck again. We knew we were going to go hard in the Powerplay because the wicket was slow. Then it was cruise control. Rode our luck. [Narine] Unbelieavable. He's done it for a couple of years now. He keeps it so simple. We don't talk a lot out there. I've always traditionally been slow starting in this tournament. But importantly we've gotten the wins.

Ajinkya Rahane: We thought 150-160 would have been really good. Slow track, you've got to at least fight. We didn't bowl to our plans. Lots of learnings. [Bails] Those things happen. You've got to focus on controllables. Tough on [Midhun]. The thought of playing two leggies was the wicket was slow. And leggies get wickets. Thought it was the right time to bring him in.


Vaibhav : "@Nishant - This was very tough pitch to bat on in the 1st innings. Don't think RR could have scored any more than 160 however hard they tried against this bowling. "

Nandakiran: "This should be the most satisfying win for KKR in this season as a team. This has been a terrific effort from bowling unit as a whole and some scintillating stroke play from the openers to get the team across the line. This is the KKR we all loved last year! "

nishant thaccke: "Rahane again saying we thought 150 would have been a good total here . Seriously Rahane ? ... Just goes to show his defensive mind-set !!"

Harsh: "KKR are gonna get a serious spike in NRR today! "

Naman Khatwani: "But KKR have been massively dependent on Dre Russ, who's saved them in all 3 of their wins. Wouldn't argue that they are the strongest side at all!" --- But tonight, of all nights, is not the night to make this argument.

Dhaval : "I still cannot relate Rahane and T20s. No doubt he's a great batsman. But this format is just not made for him either as a batsman or captain. He may play a one-off innings here and there but his strike- rate will catch up to him. "

Dhruv Dev: "Looks like Royals weren't 15-20 runs short as predicted earlier. Might have been 80-100 runs short"

Jay: "Hot take time - Ben Stokes has to be dropped from the side. His batting has been ordinary the past two seasons except for a couple of innings here and there and his bowling is dreadful this year (ER: 11). Maybe even Rahane dropped with Buttler captain. Buttler, Tripathi, Smith, Samson, Turner, Gowtham, Archer, Kulkarni, Gopal, Aaron/Unadkat, Midhun"

10:51pm Well, what was that? The pitch easing? The bowling being bad? Or just some pure, unadulterated, fearless batting from Knight Riders? You'd think the third, wouldn't you? What a partnership up front. Nearly half the target scored in the Powerplay from Narine and Lynn, who'd not clicked in tandem till tonight. And when they did, they've made us all question our collective cricket brains. Were Royals 15 short or 50? Who knows anymore.

13.6
1w
Stokes to Gill, 1 wide

well he won't hit the winnings runs. Much like they have all innings, Royals hand it on a platter. A slower ball down leg side

Rafael De Nito: "@Jury : CSK fans say HELLO !! "

13.5
Stokes to Gill, no run

length outside off, a nice looking drive on the front foot, straight to extra cover

Kapil Baldawa: "This is an absolute pasting.. Royals today n Punjab yesterday. What's the point in keeping so many wickets in hand n not going for it till it's too late? I see no logic in not attacking the bowling in PP. ROYALS hit 26 today, and only 1-2 6s in whole innings. Buttler n others needs to go after the bowling n Rahane needs to drop himself. His contribution is a virtual 0, both as captain n opener in PP"

13.4
1
Stokes to Uthappa, 1 run

slower ball at a length on middle stump, gets deep in the crease and flicks to deep square

13.3
1
Stokes to Gill, 1 run

short ball down leg side, looks for the hook, mistimed towards fine leg

Manish ghimire: "Will shubman Gill ever get to bat 15-20 balls this season?" --- He could hit the winnings runs for the third time tonight...

13.2
Stokes to Gill, no run

length on middle stump, solidly defended to mid-on off the front foot

13.1
4lb
Stokes to Gill, 4 leg byes

tickled fine. Length ball at leg stump, leans in for the flick, can't get bat on it. Gets just enough leg

end of over 1315 runs
KKR: 133/2CRR: 10.23 RRR: 1.00
Robin Uthappa25 (15b 1x4 2x6)
Shubman Gill5 (6b)
Shreyas Gopal 4-0-35-2
Jofra Archer 3-0-14-0

Jury: "After two weeks of IPL KKR looks to be the strongest side. MI is also surging up. Are these the two strongest teams in IPL now? SRH's and RR's issues got exposed this week. "



Matt: "Not convinced by the captaincy choices being made here. Bowlers getting smashed in a small chase being kept on when Ben Stokes could be given at least an experimental over."

Pankaj Korwar: "Batsman not getting out because of the bails not getting dislodged is an archaic rule. In olden days of no technology, no replays, and no bail lights, it could have been impossible to ascertain the ball hitting the stumps, and therefore the falling of bails was the only clear proof of ball hitting the stumps. In today's time, it is a gross injustice to the bowler and fielding side to deny the wicket."

12.6
Gopal to Uthappa, no run

length on off stump, blocked on the front foot

James : "Archer's economy rate looks good with all the mayhem going on. " --- Should have bowled straightaway to Narine at the start of the innings...

12.5
6
Gopal to Uthappa, SIX runs

glorious. Full ball, pushed through, again, quite quick. Plants the leg slightly inside the line and lofts it straight over the bowler like he's getting throwdowns

12.4
1
Gopal to Gill, 1 run

length outside off, short-arm pull to long-on

Artemis: "Unfortunately Smart Stats doesn't take into account the type of balls delivered by the bowlers. Smith was facing really good, consistent bowling. Lynn and Narine on the other hand have been fed with a constant stream of bad balls from everyone and had luck with the drop and non-dislodged bail." --- Don't know about bowling quality, but we have Luck Index calculating how many runs it costed Royals because the bails didn't fall. And because of the drop.

12.3
1
Gopal to Uthappa, 1 run

full outside off, driven to long-off's left

12.2
6
Gopal to Uthappa, SIX runs

short ball at middle stump, backs away and wallops this pull over the wide long-on boundary

12.1
1
Gopal to Gill, 1 run

length outside off, drives on the up to long-off

Bilal : "Has the wicket sort of quickened up? Is the ball coming on to the bat better? Because RR really struggled through their innings whereas KKR are cruising..." --- Yeah not as much grip for the spinners, but hard to say that substantially. KKR's spinners just bowled much better. Also Gurney.

end of over 123 runs
KKR: 118/2CRR: 9.83 RRR: 2.75
Shubman Gill3 (4b)
Robin Uthappa12 (11b 1x4)
Jofra Archer 3-0-14-0
Shreyas Gopal 3-0-20-2

For the second time in a week, Royals have been at the receiving end of some stubborn zing bails not moving out of their groove. What's up with the zing bails in IPL 2019?

11.6
1
Archer to Gill, 1 run

low full toss on leg stump, flicked to fine leg

11.5
Archer to Gill, no run

full on off stump, driven back to the bowler off the toe-end

11.4
1
Archer to Uthappa, 1 run

full outside off, leans in and slices to third man's right

Kiran Timilsena: "Looks like Rr bowlers plan to stop russel was not even bringing him to crease. " --- Funnily enough, they probably brought in two leggies for Russell...

11.3
Archer to Uthappa, no run

slower ball at a length on leg stump, flicked to midwicket

11.2
Archer to Uthappa, no run

length outside off, punched on the rise to mid-off

11.1
1
Archer to Gill, 1 run

slower ball, full on leg stump. Leans in and flicks to deep square

end of over 1110 runs • 1 wicket
KKR: 115/2CRR: 10.45 RRR: 2.77
Shubman Gill1 (1b)
Robin Uthappa11 (8b 1x4)
Shreyas Gopal 3-0-20-2
Sudhesan Midhun 2-0-27-0

Gladwyn: "Good captaincy to send Gill in. He hasn't had much of a chance to bat long cause of a certain Dre Russ."

nikhil: "So will this 2nd inning affect Smith's Smart Strike Rate?" --- Yup.

10.6
1
Gopal to Gill, 1 run

googly, short of a length on middle stump. Nudged to midwicket's right off the back foot

A promotion for Gill

10.5
W
Gopal to Lynn, OUT

finds deep backward square. Just short of a good length, and therefore gets big on Lynn who is down for the sweep. He can't control as he scythes from under this and gets a top edge straight to Midhun

Chris Lynn c Midhun b Gopal 50 (32b 6x4 3x6 49m) SR: 156.25
Win Probability
KKR 100%
RRKKR
100%50%100%RR InningsKKR Innings

Over 14 • KKR 140/2

KKR won by 8 wickets (with 37 balls remaining)
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Indian Premier League

TEAMMWLPTNRR
MI1495180.421
CSK1495180.131
DC1495180.044
SRH1468120.577
KKR1468120.028
KXIP146812-0.251
RR145811-0.449
RCB145811-0.607