Kolkata pull off thrilling win to keep playoffs hopes alive

Riyan Parag’s scintillating 95 went in vain as Rajasthan Royals suffered a one-run loss against Kolkata Knight Riders in a thrilling IPL 2025 encounter at Eden Gardens on Sunday.

Chasing 207, Rajasthan endured a sloppy start with Vaibhav Suryavanshi (4) and debutant Kunal Singh Rathore (0) losing their wickets cheaply in the powerplay.

Yashasvi Jaiswal and captain Parag stitched a crucial partnership to provide some stability to the chase. The duo powered Rajasthan to 59/2 at the end of the powerplay. Moeen Ali broke the 62-run partnership in the seventh over to put the pressure back on Rajasthan. Jaiswal scored 34 runs including five fours and a six.

Varun Chakaravarthy exploited Rajasthan’s situation and dismissed Dhruv Jurel and Wanindu Hasaranga on ducks in the same over to reduce them to 71/5 in 7.5 overs. Rajasthan were in dire situation while chasing the daunting total against defending champions but Parag’s sparkling innings kept Rajasthan alive in the match despite losing half of their side before the halfway mark.

Parag was supported by Shimron Hetmyer to take Rajasthan close to the target. Parag took a special liking towards Moeen as he hammered the spinner for five sixes in the 13th over to amass 32 from it.

He scored the sixth consecutive six when he hit Chakaravarthy for a maximum in the next over. Hetmyer too joined the party with a six off Sunil Narine in the 15th over to take RR to 155/5 after 15 overs.

With 52 runs needed off 30 balls, the equation was slightly tilted towards Rajasthan’s favour but Hetmyer’s wicket turned the tide in favour of the home team.

In the 18th over, Rajasthan’s hope of claiming their fourth win of the season faded completely as Parag fell for 45-ball 95 studded with eight sixes and six fours.

In the last over, Rajasthan were required 22 with Jofra Archer on strike and Shubham Dubey on the other end. Archer took a double on the first ball of Vaibhav Arora’s over before taking a single on the next ball. Dubey scored six, four and a six on the next three balls to bring the equation to three off the last ball. Vaibhav bowled the perfect yorker to only concede a single on the final ball of the innings and clinch a thrilling victory.

Earlier, Andre Russell’s quickfire half-century coupled with Angkrish Raghuvanshi’s 31-ball 44 powered KKR to 206/4.

In the last five overs, KKR accumulated 85 runs at the back of superb hitting by Russell and Raghuvanshi. Russell remained unbeaten for 57 off 25 balls studded with six sixes and four fours.

Opting to bat first, KKR’s opening worry continued as Yudhvir Singh struck in his first over and cleaned up Sunil Narine for 11. Skipper Ajinkya Rahane joined Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the middle to build momentum in the powerplay.

Gurbaz struck back-to-back fours against Yudhvir Singh before Rahane hammered a six over mid-wicket to finish the over with 15 runs. The Afghanistan wicketkeeper-batter again lodged the ball to the maximum against Maheesh Theekshana to accumulate 11 runs from the penultimate over of the powerplay. Rahane made the most of the sixth over as he sent Akash Madhwal for a six and four on successive balls to gather 13 from it to finish the powerplay for 56/1.

The duo’s 56-run stand for the second wicket was ended by Theekshana in the eighth over. Gurbaz departed after scoring 25-ball 35 including four fours and a six.

Angkrish Raghuvanshi came in to bat at no. 4 and quickly flexed his arms against Wanindu Hasaranga when he smashed him for a four on a sweep towards deep square leg. He carried the same approach against Riyan Parag and scored a boundary in the next over to keep the run rate going.

Meanwhile, Prabhsimran Singh continued his great run in IPL 2025 by hitting a sublime 48-ball 91 while left-arm pacer Arshdeep Singh stood up with the new ball to blow away Lucknow Super Giants’ (LSG) top-order, as Punjab Kings’ (PBKS) moved to second place in IPL 2025 points table with a 37-run win at the HPCA Stadium on Sunday.

Though Prabhsimran missed out on hitting his second IPL century, his exhilarating boundary-hitting – 60% of his runs coming through off-side, propelled PBKS to 236/5, their 11th 200-plus total in the tournament. He was well-supported by cameos from Josh Inglis (30), Shreyas Iyer (45), Nehal Wadhera (16), Shashank Singh (33 not out) and Marcus Stoinis (15 not out), as PBKS amassed 75 runs off the last five overs. For LSG, left-arm pacer Akash Singh was the only standout bowler - bowling his four overs on the trot to pick 2-30 and managed to keep his economy rate below 10.

Agencies