Russell, Parag star in one-run win for KKR against Rajasthan Royals

A brilliant 95 from just 45 balls by Rajasthan Royals captain Riyan Parag was only just insufficient for victory as the Kolkata Knight Riders kept their playoff hopes alive with a thrilling one-run victory in their IPL match at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Sunday afternoon.

The already-eliminated Royals looked dead and buried at 71 for five replying to KKR’s 206 for four, but Parag burst the game open with six consecutive sixes, five against former England offspinner Moeen Ali and another against legspinner Varun Chakravarthy (2-32), who had earlier taken two wickets in the eighth over.

Shimron Hetmyer contributed 29 to a sixth wicket stand of 92 before gloving a slower ball bouncer from Harshit Rana (2-41) and, when Parag (6x4, 8x6) slashed a similar delivery from the same bowler to deep cover, the home side were once again favourites with 33 required from the last two overs and 22 from the last.

Andre Russell conceded just 11 from the 19th, leaving Vaibhav Arora to defend 22 but Impact Player, Shubham Dubey, hammered a four and two sixes, leaving just three to win from the final ball – two for a Super Over. But Arora finally landed the yorker he had been striving for and Jofra Archer was run out by Rinku Singh attempting to come back for the second and the Royals finished on 205 for eight.

Earlier, Russell overcame a slow start during which his old problems against spin were evident but once he cut loose, there was no stopping him as he drove half a dozen sixes straight down the ground and tore into medium pacer Akash Madhwal, whose three overs cost 50.

Afghan opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz gave the innings a flying start with 35 from 25 balls before slog-sweeping Sri Lankan spinner Maheesh Theekshana (1-41) to deep midwicket before captain Ajinkya Rahane (30 from 24) top-edged another sweep against Royals captain Parag (1-21) into keeper Dhruv Jurel’s gloves.

Angrish Raghuvanshi (44 from 31) kept Russell company in a fourth-wicket partnership of 61, and Rinku Singh provided the late fireworks to push the total over 200 with a four and two sixes in the final over to finish unbeaten on 19 from only six balls.

It was the fourth time that the Royals had lost a run-chase they appeared to be in control of, and leaves KKR needing to win all of their final three matches to have a chance of reaching the playoffs.

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS: Rahmanullah Gurbaz (wkt), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane (captain), Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Moeen Ali, Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Vaibhav Arora

RAJASTHAN ROYALS: Yashasvi Jaiswal, Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Riyan Parag (captain), Kunal Singh Rathore, Dhruv Jurel (wkt), Shimron Hetmyer, Wanindu Hasaranga, Jofra Archer, Maheesh Theekshana, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Akash Madhwal