Live Report: KKR win by 1 run to keep title defence alive

That this match is done doesn't mean the action stops. Hop over to our coverage of PBKS vs LSG, which has serious qualification implications as well. Thanks for joining us here.

This is a desperately unlucky season for Rajasthan Royals. I mean of course it is their fault that they fared badly at the auction, but even a compromised XI has been doing so well all season long that they have found themselves in winning situations again and again.

Riyan Parag today showed the class and talent he has, hitting six straight sixes across two overs. And yet they fall short by one run. Which is just as well for their opponents who need to win every match to give themselves a shout. Andre Russell came out to bat in the 11th over or so for a chance, and showed what a difference it can make. The only Russell special so far this year, but it has happened with KKR still in it.

Shubham Dubey nearly redeems himself as Vaibhav Arora starts to miss his yorker. It is 19 off 4 when Arora digs one in. Dubey pulls it for a six. Then he misses the yorker slightly and is drilled to midwicket for four. Then the yorker becomes a low full toss, which Dubey hits for a straight six. Three needed off the last ball, what a time to nail the yorker. There is no way Dubey can hit it down the ground. The only way to get runs off this is the ramp. He is looking for a hit in front of the wicket. Just about digs it out, and Rinku Singh, who has already saved four runs in the outfield in the last two overs, charges in and denies RR the super over. Interestingly he goes at the non-striker's end when it is Dubey who is struggling more, but he catches Archer short. Lovely throw on the bounce, adjacent to the wicket. On top of it, he does so with an injured groin, which he pulled when making the second of the saves. Arora stays calm to collect it and break the wicket.

Andre Russell bowls his one customary over in the 19th and does just enough to leave Jofra Archer with a highly improbably task for getting 22 off the last over. Exactly what KKR scored in their last over. Archer hit one lovely cover-driven four in the over, but also missed out on a full toss.

It was good while it lasted. Riyan Parag is gone for 95 after a reminder of his skill. That Shubham Dubey has not made anything of a free hit, and that the asking rate is rising means Parag has to take even more risks. He nails one wide slower ball, but the fact that he is having to drag it from soo far means he gets no elevation. Caught at long-on for 95 off 45. KKR back as favourites now.

The last three overs have turned the game around again. Riyan Parag sees off Sunil Narine's last over. He did try one shot when Narine dropped short, but it doesn't carry to deep midwicket. Just 25 off the last three.

A well-directed bouncer from Harshit Rana, takes the top edge on the hook, hits the helmet and lobs up to short third. Another turnaround in the match.

Riyan Parag takes zero risk in Sunil Narine's third over, but Shimron Hetmyer makes sure they make it a par over with a slog-swept six. He is now 28 ooff 21. They need 52 in the last five now.

After five successive sixes in the 13th over, he has audaciously just dismissed Varun Chakravarthy with a superbly timed reverse-sweep for six over what would have been deep point for him. They can actually cruise it from here. But Narine has two overs left. Parag 82 off 35, Hetmyer 21 off 18. They can avail a batter as Impact Player still.

All through the troubled season for RR, one thing has been apparent: Riyan Parag is a special talent. And yet this is his first fifty this season. The turnaround starts with the return of pace, but then he also gets stuck into Moeen Ali. Above is the 13th over. Five straight sixes without fuss. First a slog-sweep, then straight. Moeen goes round the wicket and gets swept fro a six. he goes short, and gets walloped over long-on. He goes wide, and is lofted over long-off. Now it's 3-043-2 for Moeen after first two overs for 11 runs and two wickets.

Now, with Hetmyer still there, this is game on.

The game has decidedly moved into KKR's corner in just four overs after the powerplay. Varun has bowled two, Moeen one and Narine one. Just 23 runs off the the four overs plus three wickets. Now it's all about the margin of win.

Another batter not picking Varun out of the hand. You don't stand a chance if you don't. Wanindu Hasaranga is beaten comprehensively on the inside edge, and has had his middle stump pegged back.

Neither of the batters is picking Varun Chakravarthy out of the hand. After Riyan Parag gets a boundary off the inside edge, Dhruv Jurel doesn't enjoy such luck. He plays for the legbreak and defends outside off, but this comes back in to knock his stumps over. KKR can potnetially get a big NRR boost here.

As predicted, the end of powerplay has increased the level of challenge for RR. In the first over itself, Moeen Ali has his second wicket. Yashasvi Jaiswal correctly picks the overpitched ball to go after, but he has got too close to it, which means he doesn't get the desried elevation. Caught at long-on.

Varun has been taken for runs with the field restrictions on. Pace has travelled. Jaiswal 32 off 18, Parag 22 off 11. Now there are 10 potential overs of spin to go with the field spread out.

Riyan parag and Yashasvi Jaiswal are keeping RR just in the hunt with some eye-catching shots off pace bowlers, but we know there are 15 overs of spin left. Not just any spin but Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy. And we have Varun on now.

They have three spinner, and give the new ball to Moeen Ali with two left-hand batters in the middle. He nearly gets Kunal Rathore lbw, but is denied by umpire's call. On the next ball, he draws a big top edge, and that is that for Rathore.

For me, this is one of the biggest improvements in fielding over the years. You hardly used to see players pull it off when they would run back watch the ball over their shoulder and dive to complete the catch behind them. Nowadays it has become commonplace. We remember Head in the World Cup final, but we hardly remember the others. There was one at the same venue a couple of days ago. Now Ajinkya Rahane smoothly does the same, running back from midwicket as Vaibhav Suryavanshi top-edges a pull off Vaibhav Arora.

"Age is just a number, I still feel like I'm 27." - Andre Russell on celebrating his 37th birthday recently.

He says Theekshana was bowling very well just as he come in so he didn't want to take early risks. Then Theekshana bowled in his arc when he came back. "I enjoyed this role today. Once I go in earlier, you can see more."

That's the last over. And Andre Russell hasn't had anything to do with it. This is how destructive KKR can be. Russell 57 off 25, Rinku 19 off 6. Will they get a chance to repeat this in the playoffs?

He was 2 off 9 at one point, but six sixes and three fours later, he has reached 51 off 22. Sensational hitting. Shows the value of giving Russell some time. Perhaps his reputation of being able to hit from ball one sometimes ends up hurting him?

RussellMania has finally arrived. He has planned his innings superbly. When spin was on and he was not yet confident of hitting sixes, he didn't even attempt boundaries. Once Madhwal got him going, he has also taken down Archer and then hit three straight sixes off Theekshana.

Curious decision to go to Akash Madhwal when going back to seam for the first time against Russell. You'd expect Archer before the others. Russell likes the medium pace, and gets his innings going. He is 16 off 3 now. Fourteen of those came in three balls.

Wanindu hasaranga will not be especially pleased with his returns on what looks like a slow pitch. No wicket plus nearly nine an over. Gurbaz swept two fours off him in his first over, plus Raghuvanshi has been good at finding gaps.

Riyan Parag is bowling a second over, which tells you all you need to know about the pitch and the batters in the middle. And he round-arms ala Kaedar Jadhav one from around the wicket. Rahane tries to sweep but gets an edge through to the keeper. After powerlay, Rahane: 12 off 16.

Finally Andre Russell walks in with time to go and wickets in hand.

Rahane yet to hit a boundary since the end of the powerplay but Anglrish Raghuvanshi is doing nicely against the spinners. He has hit three fours in his 26 off 16. He is finding both the power and placement that Rahane is not able to get against the slower bowlers.

Rahmanullah Gurbaz has shown great intent but he hasn't quite enjoyed great results. The good thing is, he keeps attacking. He sweeps Wanindu Hasaranga for two fours in the seventh over, but a hard slog-sweep off Maheesh Theekshana in the eighth over lands straight into the laop of deep midwicket. Gone for 35 off 25.

Despite the early loss of Sunil Narine to an offcutter from Yudhvir Singh, KKR have reached 56 for 1 by the end of the powerplay. On a pitch expected to slow further down - and we saw signs of a slow surface already - this is a good start. Ajinkya Rahane continues to show good touch - he is 18 off 8 - even as Rahamnullah Gurbaz's attempts to hit hard yield mixed results.

Ajinkya Rahane, Kolkata's captain and their best batter this year, was fit after a finger injury during the last game and won the toss for his side. They chose to bat first, citing dryness in the pitch. Rahane said that in the afternoon game, a dry pitch can only be expected to deteriorate and not improve for batting.

The build-up of KKR's team suggested they expected spin to be effective. Moeen Ali replaced Rovman Powell, and Ramandeep Singh made a comeback. However, left-arm spinner Anukul Roy was left out for Ramandeep. Harshit Rana was the likely Impact Player.

Rajasthan Royals were still without regular captain Sanju Samson. Riyan Parag, the captain in Samson's absence, said he wasn't even sure what to do should he win the toss. He was clearer with the team changes. They welcomed back Wanindu Hasaranga, who missed then last game with a niggle, but then they lost former KKR man Nitish Rana to a niggle. Kunal Rathore came in for Rana while Hasaranga replaced Kumar Kartikeya. To keep the overseas limit intact, Fazalhaq Farooqi had to make way for Yudhvir Singh. Shubham Dubey was expected to come in as the Impact Player.

RR were already knocked out of the tournament, but KKR still had a slim chance of making it to the playoffs.

Kolkata Knight Riders 1 Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wk), 2 Sunil Narine, 3 4 Ajinkya Rahane (capt.), 4 Venkatesh Iyer, 5 Rinku Singh, 6 Angkrish Raghuvanshi, 7 Andre Russell, 8 Ramandeep Singh, 9 Moeen Ali, 10 Vaibhav Arora, 11 Varun Chakravarthy

Impact Player list Manish Pandey, Harshit Rana, Anukul Roy, Rovman Powell, Luvnith Sisodia

Rajasthan Royals 1 Yashasvi Jaiswal, 2 Vaibhav Suryavanshi, 3 Kunal Rathore, 4 Riyan Parag (capt.), 5 Dhruv Jurel (wk), 6 Shimron Hetmyer, 7 Wanindu Hasaranga, 8 Jofra Archer, 9 Maheesh Theekshana, 10 Yudhvir Singh, 11 Akash Madhwal

Impact Player list Shubham Dubey, Tushar Deshpande, Kumar Kartikeya, Ashok Sharma, Kwena Maphaka

There is a big bias in square boundaries: 66m to 60m. Eoin Morgan says there are dry spots standing out on the Eden Gardens pitch. He still says the pitch shouldn't break up, and should be good for batting. Still, it looks like a surface that Narine and Varun should enjoy.

Ajinkya Rahane is fit and is walking out for the toss with Riyan Parag, which means Sanju Samson is still not fit.

This is from our scenarios piece.

Played: 10, Points: 9, NRR: 0.271 Remaining matches: RR (h), CSK (h), SRH (a), RCB (a)

The win against DC has kept KKR in contention for a top-four finish. But with only nine points from ten games so far, the maximum they can finish on is 17. As mentioned earlier, it's possible for five teams to finish on 18 or more points, which means even their best in the last four matches might not be enough for KKR to earn a place in the playoffs. As with PBKS, 15 points will give KKR a chance, but 13 will eliminate them.