Shivam Mavi (4/21) and Lockie Ferguson (3/18) shared seven wickets between themselves to demolish Rajasthan Royals by 86 runs at Sharjah Cricket Stadium here on Thursday. Rajasthan’s crushing loss in their final match of the IPL 2021 means that Punjab Kings are out of the tournament while Mumbai Indians’ chances are left hanging by a very slim thread.
Chasing 172, Rajasthan were reduced to 17/4 in power-play. Shakib Al Hasan struck on the third ball of the innings as Yashasvi Jaiswal went for a reverse sweep but missed it and was bowled. In the next over, Sanju Samson clipped Mavi’s first ball to mid-wicket.
Ferguson’s double strike in the fourth over left Rajasthan in deep shambles. Liam Livingstone top-edged a pull off a short ball to deep square leg. Two balls later, Anuj Rawat was beaten for pace and trapped plumb in front of the stumps.
Glenn Phillips and Shivam Dube struck a six each off Sunil Narine but didn’t last for long at the crease. In the next over, Phillips was hurried for a pace and bowled by a straight delivery from Mavi. Three balls later, Mavi went past Dube’s attempted flick to hit the stumps.
From there, it was a free fall for Rajasthan. Chris Morris was trapped lbw for a duck by Varun Chakravarthy. Rahul Tewatia’s three boundaries off Mavi in the tenth over helped Rajasthan avoid the ignominy of lowest-ever total in the IPL.
Tewatia then slog-swept Chakravarthy for a six. Jaydev Unadkat lofted Ferguson for a boundary in the 12th over. But on the next ball, Unadkat holed out to deep cover. Tewatia continued to wage the lone battle, hitting boundaries against Ferguson and Narine. An attempt in taking a second run resulted in Chetan Sakariya’s run-out in the 16th over.
Mavi put an end to Rajasthan’s misery as Tewatia bottom edged to his stumps, giving the right-arm pacer his fourth wicket of the match.
Brief scores: Kolkata Knight Riders 171/4 in 20 overs (Shubman Gill 56, Venkatesh Iyer 38, Rahul Tewatia 1/11, Glenn Phillips 1/17) beat Rajasthan Royals 85 all out in 16.1 overs (Rahul Tewatia, 44, Shivam Dube 18, Shivam Mavi 4/21, Lockie Ferguson 3/18) by 86 runs.
