RESULT
15th match (N), Jaipur, April 18, 2018, Indian Premier League
(18.5/20 ov, T:161) 163/3

KKR won by 7 wickets (with 7 balls remaining)

Player Of The Match
35* (27) & 2/11
nitish-rana
Cricinfo's MVP
97.47 ptsImpact List
krishnappa-gowtham
New
KKR
Full commentary

11.42pm Another convincing win for KKR - it moves them to the top of the points table. Still early stages of the tournament, of course, but they're already making a statement about how good they are. Tomorrow we will have Kings XI Punjab against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Be sure to join us for that. Until then, good night!

Nitish Rana gets the Man of the Match award, for the second match in a row. "I bowl regularly in the nets, and also in domestic cricket," he says. "Both games were very important for us, I backed myself both times, and luckily I won man of the match in both games. It's such a big platform, you don't get loose balls that often, so you have to convert all of them. Which is why I got a little angry with myself when I missed out on a few."

Dinesh Karthik: "It feels good to get two wins on the trot. Slowly things are falling in a good direction. It feels that the wristspinners are a little harder to pick, and that the fast bowlers would come onto the bat. Which is why we bowled them at the start. The way Robin batted was fantastic, he set the tone for us, and it was good to see Nitish bat through for us. The only thing I would tell a player like that is be consistent through a long tournament like this, which I'm sure he's looking forward to doing."

Azee: "Yesterday M Siraj was under tight scrutiny by Cricinfo readers for all the right reasons. But I'm amazed that how Unadkat is escaping from any kind of assessment for his mediocre performances despite fetching a huge auction fee. Why is he so expensive? Enlighten us." -- It happens, it's T20. Sometimes you can go for runs despite not bowling particularly badly. Still early in the season too. Today, skiddy pitch, his slower balls - which are his major strength - weren't really gripping, and he ended up looking a little one-dimensional.

Ajinkya Rahane: "I thought we were 15-20 short. Game 1 there was pretty good bounce. This wicket was on the slower side, it was keeping a bit low. But no complaints. I was batting well, and it was my responsibility to carry on from there. As I said, 15-20 runs short. I felt our intensity was a little bit down today. I just wanted to back my players [when asked about retaining the same XI]."

Piyush Chawla [he's not the MoM]: "Not easy bowling 2-3 overs in the Powerplay, but at the moment I'm enjoying it. As a legspinner I'm always trying to pick up wickets. We are fortunate to have three quality spinners, and if we bowl well in tandem, we can definitely restrict the opposition to 160-170."

11.24pm KKR have won with an over to spare, and ended Royals' winning streak at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium. They've dominated this match from start to finish, except for one small period when Ajinkya Rahane went after their bowlers. Their spinners set up this win, bowling 14 of their 20 overs, and Nitish Rana, who chipped in with two wickets, is unbeaten at the end on 35. A candidate for MoM, perhaps? I'd still give it to Piyush Chawla, though, considering how well he tied up D'Arcy Short early on.

18.5
6
Laughlin to Karthik, SIX runs

and that is that. Gets a full ball from Laughlin, just outside off, and he clears his front leg and launches the winning hit high into the Jaipur sky, well beyond the long-on boundary

18.4
1
Laughlin to Rana, 1 run

slower short ball outside off. Makes a bit too much room, ends up having to reach for it, at shoulder height that too, and chops it down towards point

18.3
1
Laughlin to Karthik, 1 run

slower ball, full outside off, whipped wristily down to long-on

18.2
1
Laughlin to Rana, 1 run

slower ball on leg stump. Was he looking to chip that towards long-off? Maybe. Ends up miscuing it, driving it on the bounce to long-on instead

18.2
1w
Laughlin to Rana, 1 wide

full, well down the leg side, Rana misses the attempted swipe over short fine

18.1
2
Laughlin to Rana, 2 runs

full on middle stump, makes room to drive to the right of long-off. KKR have picked up a million twos today

Ankan: "@Rahul Don't forget Rana took a fantastic catch at slip the other day. If he can take catches like that - he can solve one of the problem for India at slip"

Sarvesh: "@Rahul, Indian selectors have made it clear that IPL performance won't guarantee a spot in the Indian team . Unless someone has a breakout season, I don't see it changing. So Rana still has a long way to go."

end of over 189 runs
KKR: 151/3CRR: 8.38 RRR: 5.00
Nitish Rana31 (24b 2x4 1x6)
Dinesh Karthik35 (21b 2x4 1x6)
Ben Stokes 3-0-25-0
Jaydev Unadkat 3-0-34-0
17.6
1
Stokes to Rana, 1 run

back of a length on off stump, Rana dabs it down to third man. He moved away from his stumps initially, then shuffled across them again to get close to the line

17.5
Stokes to Rana, no run

goes wide of the crease and angles a bouncer into the stumps. Carries at shoulder height to Buttler after Rana makes room and fails to connect with his uppercut

17.4
1
Stokes to Karthik, 1 run

back of a length close to off stump, opens his bat face and dabs gently towards short third man

17.3
4
Stokes to Karthik, FOUR runs

and he sends down a stump-high full-toss outside off stump. A misdirected yorker. Karthik carves it away square, a long way to the left of the only man on the off-side boundary

Manpho Pavillio: "DreRuss is resting even though he is in playing 11"

Fine leg goes back, third man comes in. Only one man deep on the off side, at sweeper cover.

17.2
2
Stokes to Karthik, 2 runs

back of a length, angling into the body, whipped away to the left of deep backward square leg

Rahul Oak: "Rana has ended up looking a genuine contender for the Indian middle order slot in limited overs. Seems fairly well organized, good temperament and can chip in a few overs too. One to watch out for!"

17.1
1
Stokes to Rana, 1 run

short, angling into off stump. Rana moves across to play a short-arm jab out to deep square leg

Stokes, from round the wicket.

end of over 1716 runs
KKR: 142/3CRR: 8.35 RRR: 6.33
Nitish Rana29 (21b 2x4 1x6)
Dinesh Karthik28 (18b 1x4 1x6)
Jaydev Unadkat 3-0-34-0
Ben Laughlin 3-0-25-0
16.6
1
Unadkat to Rana, 1 run

slower ball on middle and off, fairly full. Lets it come and opens his bat face to steer to deep point

16.5
6
Unadkat to Rana, SIX runs

shot. Unadkat looks for the off-stump yorker this time and doesn't miss his length by much. But Rana takes a big step back into his crease to create some swinging room, and simply lifts it over mid-off

16.4
1
Unadkat to Karthik, 1 run

back of a length, angled across to off stump, punched to deep point

16.3
6
Unadkat to Karthik, SIX runs

short on middle and leg, and Karthik steps across and pulls it over the backward square leg boundary - picks out the short boundary on that side, and clears it despite only managing a 64m hit. Didn't look to hit it too hard, just helped it and found the gap to the right of deep square leg

16.2
1
Unadkat to Rana, 1 run

in the blockhole close to off stump, looks to make room to drive through the covers, ends up squeezing it down to long-on instead, off the inside half of the bat

16.1
1
Unadkat to Karthik, 1 run

down the track to the ball angled across to off stump, and clips it deliberately in the air, one bounce to Stokes at deep midwicket

Unadkat to continue.

The final time-out of the game will be taken with KKR needing 35 off four overs.

Tariq: "I wonder if KKR is starting to get into a shell now. Long time since the last boundary. And the scoring rate has dropped." -- These two have certainly cut out the risks for the last few overs (16 off the last three, with no boundaries), but KKR remain in control of the required rate for now. One quiet over could make things interesting, of course.

end of over 165 runs
KKR: 126/3CRR: 7.87 RRR: 8.75
Dinesh Karthik20 (15b 1x4)
Nitish Rana21 (18b 2x4)
Ben Laughlin 3-0-25-0
Jaydev Unadkat 2-0-18-0
15.6
1
Laughlin to Karthik, 1 run

shortish outside off, slapped away to third man

15.5
1
Laughlin to Rana, 1 run

full, slanting away from the left-hander's off stump, a bit of swing away too, jabbed firmly to the left of deep point

Win Probability
KKR 100%
RRKKR
100%50%100%RR InningsKKR Innings

Over 19 • KKR 163/3

KKR won by 7 wickets (with 7 balls remaining)
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Indian Premier League
TEAMMWLPTNRR
SRH1495180.284
CSK1495180.253
KKR148616-0.070
RR147714-0.250
MI1468120.317
RCB1468120.129
KXIP146812-0.502
DC145910-0.222