An all-round performance by Kolkata Knight Riders saw them outclass Rajasthan Royals by 37 runs in an Indian Premier League match in Dubai on Wednesday. Keeping in mind the marauding form Rajasthan Royals were in, it was Kolkata Knight Riders’ job to stop the formidable Steve Smith-led team. And it was a job well done.

Batting first, KKR were given a good platform to consolidate on their score by Shubman Gill, who fell three runs short of this sixth IPL fifty. The experimentation with Sunil Narine at the top did not pay dividends for the franchise yet again. However, the West Indian chipped in with some runs before getting dismissed.

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Nitish Rana (22) and Andre Russell (24) scored some good runs to counter a disciplined Rajasthan Royals bowling attack. Jofra Archer starred for his side as he finished the match with figures of 2/18 in his stipulated four overs.

One of the highlights of the match was an absolute jaffa by Archer to dismiss KKR captain Dinesh Karthik cheaply.

Eoin Morgan scored an unbeaten 34 to help his team to put up a competitive 174/6 on board.

In reply, Kolkata Knight Riders’ Pat Cummins gave them the breakthrough by dismissing captain Steve Smith cheaply. It wasn’t far when Jos Buttler, too, departed in search of quick runs to give his team a momentum to chase down the target.

However, the English international departed and it was all downhill from there for the team who registered the highest successful chase in IPL history a few days back.

Shivam Mavi, Kamlesh Nagarkoti and Varun Chakravarthy set the tone of the match with two wickets each. On the other hand, Sunil Narine, Pat Cummins and Kuldeep Yadav scalped a wicket each.

Kolkata Knight Riders now stand second in the IPL points table and Rajasthan Royals are placed third.