IPL 2019 | Meme Report - Riyan Parag’s determined 47 overshadows Dinesh Karthik 97 as RR beat KKR by three wickets

BySrijith Gopal, SportsCafe Editor

04/26/2019

Riyan Parag played a mature 47-run innings and that was sufficient for Rajasthan Royals to hand Kolkata Knight Riders their sixth consecutive loss of the tournament. Dinesh Karthik and Piyush Chawla, however, gave their all and helped the side remain in the game for most parts of it.

After Rajasthan Royals opted to bowl first, Kolkata Knight Riders sent Shubman Gill along with regular opener Chris Lynn considering the fact that Rajasthan was going to operate their two pacers in the powerplay. With Varun Aaron back in the scheme of things, Lynn must’ve fancied his chance tonight, but his hopes crashed as a back of a length delivery at 140.9kph wide of off caught a lethargic Lynn off guard and took his stumps in the very first over.

After sending Lynn back, Aaron didn’t drop the intensity and bowled some of the finest deliveries without compromising with the pace. However, he, then, decided to add brain to the brawn and bowled a slower delivery which nipped back to kiss the top of Shubman Gill’s stumps. Suddenly the team was in danger by the end of the fifth over.

After Gill’s dismissal, Dinesh Karthik promoted himself up in the order, but the run-scoring rate became slow instantly. The duo of Karthik and Rana took their own sweet time to unleash themselves, but the big shots didn’t come up on a regular basis as KKR were reduced to 49/2 in 10 overs.

However, after that, Karthik switched on the beast mode and found all corners of the ground easy to overcome. While the wickets were falling like a pack of cards at the other end, Karthik rocked back and used his off-side cricket to strong effect to lift the depleted line-up.

For a moment, Karthik threatened to become the second KKR cricketer to score a century in the IPL, and his momentum in the last two overs perfectly encapsulated his innings. He was cut above the rest and every ball had a potential six written all over it. Albeit he failed to do that and ended his innings with 97, the team had already collected as many as 126 runs in the second half of the innings and reached 175/6 in 20 overs.

Ajinkya Rahane, who was fresh of a century in the game against Delhi Capitals, started on an attacking note for the second consecutive time in the league and made sure that the Royals were up to a very good start, reaching 53/0 in five overs.

Everything seemed alright for Rajasthan Royals in the first five overs, but Karthik unleashed Sunil Narine to attack Rahane and that proved to be a great tactic. The Caribbean all-rounder bagged Rahane and Steve Smith in two consecutive overs with two terrific carrom balls and that resulted in Royals finding themselves at 78/3 in 10 overs.

Riyan Parag, who played an impressive 43-run innings against Mumbai Indians the other night, took the burden of the run-chase on his shoulders. He played a mature yet effective innings and was unaltered by the ramshackle that was going around him. As if the fate had other plans, Parag was hit wicket when the team needed just nine runs and the responsibility came on Jofra Archer.

With nine needed off the last over, Dinesh Karthik handed the ball to Prasidh Krishna, who had already given away 33 runs in three overs. But Jofra Archer was determined not to let Parag’s effort go in vain as he hit a four and six on the first two deliveries to hand the Royals a fantastic victory.