Yuzvendra Chahal became IPL's leading wicket-taker before completing a brilliant four-wicket haul as Rajasthan Royals restricted Kolkata Knight Riders to a below-par 149 for eight in Kolkata on Thursday. (More Cricket News) | (Scorecard)
On a day RR dished out an eye-grabbing fielding display, Chahal grabbed two wickets in three balls when he dismissed KKR top-scorer Venkatesh Iyer (57; 42b) and Shardul Thakur (1) in the middle overs b✃efore ending with figures of 4-0-25-4.
Chahal (187 wickets) eclipsed Dwayne Bravo (183) to bℱecome the all-time leading wicket-taker of the IPL when he st𝔉ruck off his second ball to dismiss KKR skipper Rana (22; 17b).
He ended his spell d𝄹ismissing the inform Rinku Singh (16) to also become the leadin🤡g wicket-taker this season with 21 wickets.
Put in on a dry Eden wicket, KKR frontline batters came a cropper, as Venkatesh held the fort and retur🦹ned to form with a fighting fifty.
From being two off 12 balls, Venkatesh paced his innings well and raced to💦 a 39-ball fifty. But he slashed a wide delivery from Chahal to be brilliantly caught by Trent Boult.
Andre Russell (10🤡; 10b) failed to make it big after he was prom🅠oted to No 5 and fell to KM Asif.
KKR, who were 58🧸/2 afterꦚ nine overs, looked to seize the momentum after taking a strategic time out in the 10th over.
Venkatesh finally broke free smashing Ashwin for back-to-back sixes, while Rana ended the over with an elegant four through extra-co๊ver to take them to 76/2 at the midway mark.
KKR lo﷽oked on course for a decent total before Chahal triggered a mid-innings collapse.
Earlier in the innings, two spectacular catches inside the power play set the tone for the Royals as KKR once again had a terrible start to be 37/𝓀2 in the first six overs🌄.
Both came in Trent Boult's successive overs as the Kiwi left-arm pacer returned with 2/15 from his three overs in his comeback match﷽.
First, 💧itꦓ was Shimron Hetmyer who took a blinder to dismiss Jason Roy in the third over.
Running from deep square leg, not only did Hetmyer manage to time his jump to perfection, he balanced his b⛎ody from touching the rope in a split of a second.
It seemed to have rubbed off on Sandeep Sharma, who out of nowhere༺💟 took a diving catch at midoff to send back a dangerous-looking Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the fifth over.
Venkatesh dragged the team further be🎐hind playing a Test-match like innings.
He swung his bat hard, stepped out, but nothing seemed to be coming off from 🉐his bat, while Royals gave it all in the fꩲield.
RR fielders were also brilliant on the field and save𝓡d at least 15-20 runs.
