Rinku Singh, Anukul Roy power KKR to thrilling victory

KOLKATA: Former champions Kolkata Knight Riders have secured their first win of the IPL season with a thrilling chase of 156 runs. At one stage, KKR were struggling at 85 for 6, but a brilliant unbeaten partnership between Rinku Singh and Anukul Roy guided them to victory. KKR reached the target in 19.4 overs, with Rinku Singh scoring an unbeaten half-century.

This win gives KKR three points from seven matches, including one abandoned game, helping them move up from the bottom of the points table. Their chase got off to a poor start as openers Tim Seifert and captain Ajinkya Rahane were dismissed without scoring.

Ankrish Raghuvanshi scored 10 (19), Cameron Green made 27 (13), Rovman Powell added 23 (20), and Ramandeep Singh contributed 10 (13). When Ramandeep was dismissed as the sixth wicket, the score was 85 in 13.3 overs. A crucial unbeaten 76-run partnership off 37 balls for the seventh wicket between Rinku Singh (53* off 34) and Anukul Roy (29* off 16) guided the team to victory. For Rajasthan, Ravindra Jadeja took two wickets, while Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Ravi Bishnoi, and Yash Raj claimed one wicket each.

Earlier, Rajasthan Royals posted 155 for 9 in 20 overs. Openers Vaibhav Suryavanshi (46) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (39) gave a strong start, adding 81 runs for the first wicket, but the middle order collapsed. For KKR, Varun Chakravarthy starred with three wickets, while Kartik Tyagi also picked up three. Sunil Narine claimed two wickets.