Rajasthan Royals Riyan Parag became the first batter in the IPL to hit six sixes off successive deliveries, a feat he achieved during Rajast inhan Royals’ chase against Kolkata Knight Riders at Eden Gardens, but his side lost the match by one run.
He went past Chris Gayle, Kieron Pollard and Rinku Singh, who all had hit five successive sixes. Coincidentally, all these instances came during the second innings of the match.
Kolkota Knight Riders still have their hopes to qualify for the play offs, whilst Rajasthan Royals are out of the race , and in the double header LSG faced a shocker.
The crowds were on the edge of their seats at Eden Gardens yesterday. If Kolkota Knight Riders lost, they, too, would have been eliminated from the playoffs.
So basically, the game was a do or die equation for the Ajankya Rahane led Kolkota Knight Riders.
They did struggle with 3 batters back in the hutch with the score on 111 for 3 wickets in the 13th over. Raguvansi hung around whilst Gurbaz was out for 35, and the big scalp of Rahane for 30 and Sunil Narine for 11.
Andre Russell came to Kolkota Knight Riders rescue. He made 57 runs in 25 balls with 4 boundaries and 6 maximums with Raguvansi doing the support role dismissed for 41 in the 19th over.
Andre Russell remained unbeaten on 57 to help the home team reach a par score of 206 for 4 wickets.
None of the Rajasthan Royals bowlers impressed because the surface was a belter.
Riyan Parag was miserly in his 3 over spells, conceeding only 21 runs for 1 wicket, Theekshana, who also bowled in the power play overs 1 for 41 and Hasaranga wicketless
Rajasthan Royals never gave any indication that the chase would be competitive. They lost 5 wickets for 71 runs and looked down the barrel with only Ryan Parang and Hetmyer the last recognised pair.d
Parang played his best knock in his life. 95 runs in 45 balls with 8 maximums and 6 boundaries with Shimron Hetmyyer playing the supporting role 29 in 23 balls. When Varun Chackravarthy took 2 wickets in his 3rd over and Rajasthan Royals slipped to 71 for 5 wickets, the game looked done and dusted.
Parang sadly was caught out for 95 in the 18th over with the total on 178. The partnership he stitched for the 6th wicket with Hetmyer of 92 almost knocked Kolkota Knight Riders off the playoffs.
Shubam Dube and Jofra Archer almost took them home but just fell short by 1 run . When Archer attempted a second run, he was run out due to a brilliant throw by Rinku Singh from deep mid off to the bowlers end. His sharp fielding skills not only saved many runs for his team, but his accuracy saved the day for KKR.
Kolkota Knight Riders win by 1 run and keep their fingers crossed for the playoffs