Rajasthan Royals 6-144 (Brad Hodge 46*, Ajinkya Rahane 36, Sunil Narine 2-28) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 125 (Eoin Morgan 51, Gautam Gambhir 22, Kevon Cooper 3-15, Siddharath Tridevi 3-23) by 19 runs.
The targeted bowling spell from the Rajasthan Royals bowlers defended their reasonable score vs. the strong Kolkata Knight Riders batting and clinched the match.
Rajasthan Royals scored 144 runs with four wickets still in hand at the close of the scheduled 20th over and the innings of Kolkata Knight Riders was rolled back for 125 in 19 overs.
Siddharath Tridevi (Rajasthan Royals) was declared ‘Player of the match’ for his calculated bowling spell.
The 8th match of the Indian Premier League was played on Monday, April 8, 2013, at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur.
Earlier, Gautam Gambhir, the captain of Kolkata Knight Riders, won the toss and asked the opponent team to bat first. The decision proved vital since Rajasthan Royals lost their first wicket at 11as their skipper, Rahul Dravid joined in with Ajinkya Rahane who hit 2 fours in the fourth over. Dravid added a couple of boundaries in the following overs but was clean bowled by Rajat Bhatia for 17 as the score reached 46 in 7.5 overs. Stuart Binny walked in next, he hit 3 fours in the next two overs and became the third victim at 63 after scoring 14 runs.
Brad Hodge was the next batsman in who started off with a four and the run rate was speeded up by the two batsmen. They added 14 runs in the 15th over with 1 six and 1 four and enhanced the score to 100 in 15 overs. Sunil Narine got rid of Ajinkya Rahane on the second delivery of the next over for 36 off 34 balls with 1 six and 4 fours as Kevon Cooper went without scoring two balls later. Brad Hodge kept on cruising at his end whereas Dishant Yagnik supported him nicely and they accumulated 18 runs in the 19th over with 1 six and 2 fours. Hodge remained unbeaten for 46 off just 31 balls comprising 7 fours as Rajasthan Royals marshalled to 144 for the loss of six wickets in 20 overs.
Sunil Narine was the top wicket taker with two whereas Brett Lee, Rajat Bhatia and Laxmi Shukla shared one wicket each.
Gautam Gambhir gave a rising beginning to Kolkata Knight Riders by hitting 12 runs in the very first over with 1 six and 1 four. Rahul Shukla struck twice in the third over and got the important wickets of Manvinder Bisla and Jacques Kallis who were gone for 1 and 0 run respectively. Manoj Tiwary and Dravid tried to mend the early loss, they added 10 runs in the fifth over and took the score to 40 after six overs. Tiwary was declared leg before wicket off Siddharth Trivedi for 14 on the first ball of the seventh over and Gambhir followed him four balls later for 22 runs.
Eoin Morgan took command of the situation as the wickets kept on crumbling from the other end at regular intervals. He hit a six in the 13th over followed by 2 fours in the next one and thrashed his fifty in the 18th over by gathering 10 runs with one six. Kolkata Knight Riders required 23 runs to win the encounter in the last 12 deliveries as the stumps of Eoin Morgan were dislodged by Kevon Cooper for 51 off just 38 balls with 3 towering sixes and even fours. The tale was wiped off quickly by the rival bowlers and the entire team was bowled out for 125 runs with six balls to spare.
Kevon Cooper and Siddharath Tridevi were the major wicket takers with three wickets each, Rahul Shukla held two whereas Sreesanth and Shaun Tait claimed one wicket each.
Rajasthan Royals won the match easily in the end with a margin of 19 runs and added another two points to their tally.
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