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.