Kolkata: Yuzvendra Chahal became IPL’s leading wicket-taker before completing a brilliant four-wicket haul as Rajasthan Royals restricted Kolkata Knight Riders to a below-par 149 for eight here Thursday.
On a day RR dished out an eye-grabbing fielding display, Chahal grabbed two wickets in three balls when he dismissed KKR topscorer Venkatesh Iyer (57; 42b) and Shardul Thakur (1) in the middle overs before ending with figures of 4-0-25-4.
Chahal (187 wickets) eclipsed Dwayne Bravo (183) to become the all-time leading wicket-taker of the IPL when he struck off his second ball to dismiss KKR skipper Rana (22; 17b).
He ended his spell dismissing the inform Rinku Singh (16) to also become the leading wicket-taker this season with 21 wickets.
Put in on a dry Eden wicket, KKR frontline batters came a cropper, as Venkatesh held the fort and returned to form with a fighting fifty.
From being two off 12 balls, Venkatesh paced his innings well and raced to a 39-ball fifty. But he slashed a wide delivery from Chahal to be brilliantly caught by Trent Boult.
Andre Russell (10; 10b) failed to make it big after he was promoted to No 5 and fell to KM Asif.
KKR, who were 58/2 after nine overs, looked to seize the momentum after taking a strategic time out in the 10th over.
Venkatesh finally broke free smashing Ashwin for back-to-back sixes, while Rana ended the over with an elegant four through extra-cover to take them to 76/2 at the midway mark.
KKR looked on course for a decent total before Chahal triggered a mid-innings collapse.
Earlier in the innings, two spectacular catches inside the power play set the tone for the Royals as KKR once again had a terrible start to be 37/2 in the first six overs.
Both came in Trent Boult’s successive overs as the Kiwi leftarm pacer returned with 2/15 from his three overs in his comeback match.
First, it was Shimron Hetmyer who took a blinder to dismiss Jason Roy in the third over.
Running from deep square leg, not only did Hetmyer manage to time his jump to perfection, he balanced his body from touching the rope in a split of a second.
It seemed to have rubbed off on Sandeep Sharma who out of nowhere took a diving catch at midoff to send back a dangerous-looking Rahmanullah Gurbaz in the fifth over.
Venkatesh dragged the team further behind playing a Test-match like innings.
He swung his bat hard, stepped out but nothing seemed to be coming off from his bat, while Royals gave it all in the field.
RR fielders were also brilliant on the field and saved at least 15-20 runs.
PTI