MUMBAI: Chris Morris picked four wickets as Rajasthan Royals restricted Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to 133/9 in their allotted 20 overs in the Indian Premier League (IPL) match here at the Wankhede Stadium on Saturday evening.
In the last three overs, KKR scored 23 runs and lost Dinesh Karthik, swashbuckling batsman Andre Russell, and last match's hero Pat Cummins. Morris dismissed all the three batsmen to deny KKR any chance of slogging in the death overs.
On the last ball of the KKR's innings, Morris removed Shivam Mavi to bag his fourth wicket for the day. Put in to bat first, KKR got off to a bad start which eventually worsened as the innings progressed. The side scored eight runs in the first two overs and then lost the wicket of Shubman Gill in the sixth over.
Jos Buttler's direct hit ended Gill's knock with KKR scoring 25 runs in the powerplay. KKR kept losing wickets at regular intervals and got reduced to 61/4 at the halfway mark.
While Nitish Rana was removed by Chetan Sakariya, skipper Eoin Morgan registered a diamond duck in the 11th over. Yashasvi Jaiswal redeemed himself as he took a stunning catch running and diving forward to send Narine back in the hut.
However, Rahul Tripathi kept batting freely and hit timely boundaries to revive KKR's innings. Rahul along with Dinesh Karthik stitched a 33-run stand before the former departed in the 16th over.
Karthik took KKR over the 100-run mark with a classy in the 17th over. Andre Russell perished before he could unleash the beast within. The all-rounder smacked a six in the 18th over but wasn't able to carry forward the momentum.
In the same over, Karthik too departed as Morris bagged two wickets in three balls to leave KKR reeling at 118/7. In the end, KKR was only able to score 133 runs as Cummins failed to replicate what he did against CSK on Wednesday.
Brief Scores: Kolkata Knight Riders: 133 for 9 in 20 overs (R Tripathi 36, D Karthik 25; C Morris 4/23).