Jaipur: Openers Sunil Narine (47, 25b, 6×4, 3×6) and Chris Lynn (50, 32b, 6×4, 3×6) tore the Rajasthan Royals (RR) bowling attack to shreds to help Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) notch up an easy eight-wicket win in their IPL encounter here today.
Chasing 140 for a win, the Narine-Lynn combo shared 91 runs for the opening stand in 8.3 overs to take the game away from the home side. Robin Uthappa (26 n o) gave the finishing touches as KKR reached their target with 6.1 overs to spare.
The win, which took KKR to the top of the table with eight points from five matches (4 wins and 1 loss), was the best of this season in terms of number of balls to spare.
When Rajasthan Royals batted, the slow track at Sawai Man Singh stadium looked like a difficult one with the ball not coming on to the bat easily, but the KKR batsmen made the nature of the track irrelevant with runs and boundaries coming thick and fast.
Earlier, former Australian skipper Steve Smith (73 n o, 59b, 7×4, 1×6) scored an unbeaten half century – first this season — to anchor Rajasthan Royals to 139/3 on a tricky track.
Smith shared 72 runs in 10.4 overs with opener Jos Buttler (37, 34b) for the second wicket after captain Ajinkya Rahane (five) was out cheaply in the second over.
On a slow track at the Sawai Man Singh stadium, the runs were a premium as the ball did not come on to the bat easily. The stadium was also engulfed by a sandstorm before the tie but the match started on time.
The hosts were immediately at the backfoot early on as Rahane was trapped in front by Prasidh Krishna () with the scoreboard reading just five.
Buttler hit a couple of fours in the fourth over bowled by Krishna and after that runs were hard to come by before one-down Smith hit another couple of boundaries in the ninth over off chinaman Kuldeep Yadav ().
Buttler hit the first six of the match in the fourth delivery of the 12th over bowled by debutant pacer Harry Gurney (2/25) but he was out the next ball while going for another big shot with Subhman Gill taking a fine catch near the boundary ropes.
Smith hit a massive six off Sunil Narine () in the 18th over and a couple of boundaries in the next two overs to take RR to a respectable total.
Brief scores: Rajasthan Royals 139/3 (Steve Smith 73 n o; Harry Gurney 2/25) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 140/2 (Chris Lynn 50, Sunil Narine 47) by eight wickets.