Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals, Indian Premier League 2020 Match 52: In Pics

Steve Smith-led Rajasthan Royals won the toss and opted to bowl first against Dinesh Karthik's Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the last league stage fixture for the two sides in the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday.

 

RR and KKR are occupying sixth and seventh place, respectively in the points table with six wins each from 13 games and this clash is crucial for both the teams in order to stay alive in the playoff race.

 

In the previous encounter between the two sides this season, Rajasthan slumped to a 37-run defeat at the hands of Kolkata at the same venue on September 30.(Image Credits: Twitter/@IPL)

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) have made two changes in their Playing XI for their second clash against Rajasthan Royals of the season. Andre Russell has returned to the team and he has replaced Lockie Ferguson, while Shivam Mavi comes in place of Rinku Singh. 

 

Eoin Morgan,Andre Russell, Pat Cummins and Sunil Narine are the four overseas players named in the KKR Playing XI fo the tie. (Image Credits: Twitter/@KKRiders)

Rajasthan Royals have headed into the clash against Kolkata Knight Riders with an unchanged Playing XI.

 

Ben Stokes, Steven Smith(c), Jos Buttler and Jofra Archer are the four overseas players in the team for the clash against the Eoin Morgan-led side. (Image Courtesy: Twitter/@rajasthanroyals)

Jofra Archer gave breakthrough to Rajasthan Royals as early as in the very first over. Nitish Rana departed for duck after being caught by Sanju Samson behind the stumps on the second ball. (Image Credits: Twitter/@IPL)

Rahul Tewatia could be seen celebrating after removing Sunil Narine for duck. The KKR batsman departed after being taken by Ben Stokes at wide long-on on the last ball of the ninth over by Rahul Tewatia. (Image Credits: Twitter/@IPL)

Shubman Gill fell for 24-ball 36 runs after being caught by Jos Buttler at deep midwicket on the third ball of 9th over by Rahul Tewatia. (Image Credits: Twitter/@IPL)

Rahul Tripathi (39) and Dinesh Karthik (0) fell in quick succession. While Rahul departed on the last delivery of 12th ovr by Shreyas Gopal following a running catch by Robin Uthappa near long-on, Karthik was taken by Steve Smith at short midwicket on the third ball of the next over by Rahul Tewatia.(Image Credits: Twitter/@IPL)

 KKR skipper Eoin Morgan has brought up a half-century off 30 deliveries. He reached the mark with a maximum by lofting the fourth delivery of the 19th over by Ben Stokes over long-on. This was his first fifty of the season. Morgan eventually finished with unbeaten knock of 68 runs off just 35 balls to help KKR post a good total of 191/7.(Image Credits: Twitter/@IPL)

Rahul Tewatia departs for 27-ball 31 after being caught by Dinesh Karthik behind the wicket on the fourth ball of 15th over by Varun Chakravarthy.

Pat Cummins proved to be a tormentor-in-chief for KKR as he bagged four wickets to reduce Rajasthan Royals to a score of 41 for five inside Powerplay.

After skipper Eoin Morgan notched up a half-century, Pat Cummins bagged a four-wicket haul to help Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) thrash Rajasthan Royals by 60 runs and keep their hopes alive of making it to the playoffs of the 2020 IPL.