KKR beat Rajasthan Royals by eight wickets after putting the hosts to bat first in Jaipur. RR didn't lose many wickets during their innings but they were denied a late flourish by a great display of discipline by KKR's bowling unit. The victory took KKR to the top of the table with four victories and just one defeat in the Super Over duel against Delhi Capitals.
Here are the three takeaways from the game:
Debutant leads KKR's bowling
Dinesh Karthik used his bowlers well as they restricted the Royals to an under-par score of 139/3. Though they didn't get many wickets, they were very disciplined with the line and length.
Piyush Chawla who opened the attack was the most economical bowler giving away just 19 runs off his four overs.
Debutant Harry Gurney was best of the lot as he claimed 2/25 from his bowling quota. Sunil Narine also bowled with an economy of under six-an-over.
The controlled bowling didn't allow RR batsmen to get going on a pitch that was a little sluggish from the start.
Steve Smith comes to RR's rescue
Though RR finished at the lowest total by a team losing three wickets or less in the IPL, it was Steve Smith's innings that formed the backbone of their innings. He did not get enough support from the other end except from Jos Buttler who scored 37 off 34 deliveries.
Smith hit his first fifty of this season as he made an unbeaten 73 off 59 deliveries that included seven boundaries and huge six off Sunil Narine.
Other than Smith and Buttler, no other RR batsmen made any significant contribution with Ben Stokes scoring just 7 runs off 14 deliveries towards the innings' end.
Smith's knock and form will be important for RR if they are to stay alive in the competition.
Narine-Lynn show
It wasn't Andre Russell but Sunil Narine, another Carribean, did the big-hitting for the KKR. The opener hit Krishnappa Gowtham for 18 runs in the second over of the innings itself. Chris Lynn supported him with regular hits to the fence as the pair smashed 65 runs in the power play. It didn't seem like the same slow pitch on which RR had batted when the duo was in the crease.
Both the batsmen got respite off Dhawal Kulkarni's consecutive deliveries as Sunil Narine was dropped by Rahul Tripathi. Lynn had a lucky escape the very next delivery as an inside edge that hit the stumps lit up the LED bails but didn't fall off.
Both fell to Shreyas Gopal but not before taking KKR close to a win. Narine scored a 24-ball 47 with six fours and three maximums. Lynn hit the same number of boundaries during his knock of 50 from 32 deliveries.
Robin Uthappa played a cameo scoring 26 off 16 deliveries to take KKR home with 37 balls to spare.
With all their bases covered, KKR look like a side to beat in this year's IPL.