AP, Kolkata :
Kolkata Knight Riders ended Rajasthan Royals’ run in the Indian Premier League with a 25-run victory in the Eliminator on Wednesday.
Kolkata will now host Sunrisers Hyderabad on Friday in Qualifier 2 and the winner will take on Chennai Super Kings in the final on Sunday in Mumbai.
Rajasthan had paced its chase nicely and was 87-1 by the halfway mark before it collapsed against Kolkata’s seamers and spinners to be restricted at 144-4.
“We were initially under the pump, so good on us to come back,” said Kolkata captain Dinesh Karthik, who earlier led his team to 169-7 with a gritty 52. “In these kinds of games the score doesn’t matter, it’s about believing. The par scores don’t matter, but just how much you believe. The bowlers have picked their game and have bowled some good balls.”
Captain Ajinkya Rahane (46), who successfully overturned an lbw decision against him in legspinner Piyush Chawla’s (2-24) first over, and Rahul Tripathi (20) provided a solid start of 47 runs off 31 balls.
But Chawla broke the stand in his second over when he had Tripathi caught off his own bowling off a leading edge.
Sanju Samson hit a gritty 50 off 38 balls and featured in a 62-run stand with Rahane but Kolkata continued to execute pressure through its spinners on a turning wicket at Eden Gardens.
Rahane mistimed a sweep off leftarm spinner Kuldeep Yadav and offered a simple return catch and Samson holed out in the deep in the 17th over of Chawla.
