IPL 2021: Sanju Samson plays captain's knock of unbeaten 42, RR defeats KKR by 6 wickets

Former champion Rajasthan royals came up with a radiant display both with the bat and the ball, as it trumped fellow former champion Kolkata Knight Riders by six wickets in Match 18 of the Indian Premier League 2021 at the Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday. While all-rounder Chris Morris's four-for pushed KKR onto the back foot, it was skipper Sanju Samson's whose unbeaten 42 helped RR return to winning ways.

Winning the toss, RR skipper Samson elected to bowl first, as he made a couple of changes, bringing in Jaydev Unadkat and Yashasvi Jaiswal. Meanwhile, KKR skipper Eoin Morgan made a change by promoting Shivam Mavi for Kamlesh Nagarkoti.

The KKR openers were off to a slow and steady start, losing Shubman Gill for 11 off an unfortunate run out in the sixth over, with just 24 runs on the board. Just 21 runs later, fellow opener Nitish Rana departed for 22 to pacer Chetan Sakariya after being caught behind by Samson in the ninth over.

LIVE SCORECARD: IPL 2021, Match 18: Rajasthan Royals vs Kolkata Knight Riders (RR vs KKR)

Within the next 16 runs, a couple of more batsmen were dismissed, as Sunil Narine fell for six to pacer Unadkat, while Morgan was run out for an unfortunate duck, as the score read 61/4. Meanwhile, it was Tripathi who seemed to be going good before departing for 36 in the 16th over to pacer Mustafizur Rahman.

As wicketkeeper-batsman Dinesh Karthik and all-rounder Andre Russell looked to get going, they seemingly struggled to score, with both falling for 25 and nine by the 18th over off pacer Morris. By the score of 133, the pair of Pat Cummins (10) and Shivam Mavi (5) was cleaned up by Morris as well, thus setting a below-par total to chase for RR.

For RR, six bowlers were pressed into the attack, with Morris creating havoc with a four-for. Meanwhile, pacer Shivam Dube happened to be the most economical of all.

As RR came out for the chase, it was off to a shaky start, losing its openers within the powerplay itself. While wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler fell for five to spinner Varun Chakravarthy, Yashasvi Jaiswal departed for 22 to pacer Mavi, with the score at the sixth over reading 50/2.

Nevertheless, it was followed by a 45-run stand for the third wicket between Samson and Dube, as the latter was dismissed for 22 by Chakravarthy in the 11th over. Just 15 runs later, at 100, all-rounder Rahul Tewatia fell for a mere five to pacer Prasidh Krishna in the 14th over.

The chase turned out to be unexpectedly slow, besides being an even contest with the bat and the ball. However, despite all the pressure, it was the final pair of Samson and David Miller that saw RR out, sealing the win by six wickets, with seven balls to spare.

As for KKR, it just utilised five bowlers, with Chakravarthy being the most effective. Meanwhile, Mavi happened to be the most economical of the lot.
Brief scores: KKR 133/9 (Tripathi- 36; Morris- 4/23) lost to RR 134/4 in 18.5 overs (Samson- 42*; Chakravarthy- 2/32) by six wickets.

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