Rajasthan Royals made some major progress after a big win over Kolkata Knight Riders in an IPL 2023 match in Kolkata on Thursday. Yashasvi Jaiswal's history-making fastest half-century in IPL history and Yuzvendra Chahal's four-wicket haul guided Rajasthan Royals to a comprehensive 9-wicket victory over Kolkata Knight Riders. Chahal's four-wicket haul and Jaiswal's record-breaking half-century were the highlights of the emphatic victory. The win with 41 balls to spare also took them to third spot (12 points from 12 matches), giving a massive boost to their net run-rate (+0.633) as the play-off race heats up. It is all but over for KKR who slipped to seventh place (10 points, 12 matches).
Orange Cap, Purple Cap
While Royal Challengers Bangalore captain Faf du Plessis (576 runs) leads the batters' charts, Jaiswal is now at the second spot with 575 runs. RR's Yuzvendra Chahal now leads the top wicket-takers' charts with 21 scalps.
Talking about the game, Jaiswal produced an exhibition in power-hitting for his team and script an incredible milestone of the fastest half-century in IPL history in just 13 balls. Jaiswal played a knock of unbeaten 98 runs in 47 balls.
Sanju Samson played his role with a stroke-filled knock of 48 off 29 as well, as RR chased down the target with almost seven overs to spare.
Chasing 150 to win, Rajasthan Royals couldn't have got off to a better start. Yashasvi Jaiswal's batting had confidence written all over it as the in-form opener hammered 26-run off the very first over.
Andre Russell's excellent direct hit provided the opening breakthrough for KKR as Jos Buttler was out without scoring.
However, Yashasvi Jaiswal was unstoppable with the bat and the RR opener notched the fastest fifty ever in the history of IPL. Rajasthan Royals were cruising in the chase as they moved to 78/1 after 6 overs.
The hundred was up for Rajasthan Royals in the tenth over as Yashasvi Jaiswal continued his dominant aggressive batting display. RR skipper Sanju Samson also jumped on the bandwagon and was dealing with boundaries.
It took only 56 balls for the Jaiswal-Samson duo to stitch a hundred-run stand for the second wicket. With more than 6 overs to spare, the Rajasthan Royals completed the chase and Yashasvi Jaiswal remained unbeaten on 98* as the visitors registered a comprehensive 9-wicket victory in Kolkata.
Earlier, Yuzvendra Chahal delivered a fine performance to bag four wickets, conceding just 25 runs in his 4 overs spell. Trent Boult scalped two wickets. For KKR, Venkatesh Iyer played a fighting knock of 57 runs after early hiccups, while Nitish Rana slammed 22 runs.
Opted to field first, Rajasthan got off to a blistering start as Trent Boult dismissed Jason Roy who is in good form in the season. Roy went back to the pavilion after scoring just 10 runs.
Roy's wicket invited left-handed batter Venkatesh Iyer to the crease. Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the third over thumped Sandeep Sharma for 15 runs with the help of two back-to-back sixes.
However, Gurbaz's stay at the crease was cut short as Boult provide his team with another breakthrough in the 5th over of the game.
The left-handed batter and KKR captain Nitish Rana then came out to bat. Iyer joined hands with the captain and slammed Ravichandran Ashwin for 18 runs with the help of two sixes and one four.
Yuzvendra Chahal then joined the ticket-taking party as he dismissed Rana for 22 in the 11th over of the game. With the KKR captain's, wicket Chahal added another feather to his cap as he became the leading wicket-taker in the history of IPL.
Andre Russell then came out to bat. Iyer smoked Chahal for 15 runs with three stunning boundaries in the 13th over. Russell's short knock of 10 runs came to an end as he was sent packing by KM Asif in the 14th over of the game.
The left-handed batter Rinku Singh then came out to bat. Venkatesh Iyer brought up a fine and well-made half-century off just 39 deliveries in the 16th over of the game.
Chahal then delivered a fine ball to remove well-set batter Iyer for 57 in the 17th over of the game. Chahal then in the same over struck again as he dismissed Shardul Thakur for just 1 run.
In the 19th over of the game, Chahal then removed Rinku Singh for 16 runs. Sunil Narine then came out to bat. In the final over Sandeep Sharma then removed Narine for 6 to restrict KKR to 149/8 in 20 overs.
With ANI inputs