Teenager impresses in Royals' unlikely win

Seventeen-year-old Riyan Parag produced a masterclass in run-chasing to guide the Rajasthan Royals to an unlikely three-wicket victory against the Kolkata Knight Riders in their IPL match at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Thursday night.

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Chasing 176 for victory the visitors suffered a mid-innings collapse to 123 for six before Parag, calm beyond his years, stylishly crafted 47 runs from 31 balls with five fours and two sixes to guide his team to the brink of victory before an Andre Russell short ball forced him to step on his stumps.

But Jofra Archer (27* from 12 balls), his partner in a seventh wicket stand of 44, was on hand to clinch the victory with a fortunate four over short third man and a six in the final over bowled by seamer Prasidh Krishna.

Jofra finishes it off in style. Great victory for the @rajasthanroyals ???? pic.twitter.com/0Oc9S2aEQ8

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) April 25, 2019

Earlier, a career best 97 not out by captain Dinesh Karthik and brilliant spin bowling from Piyush Chawla (3-20) and Sunil Narine (2-25) helped the Knight Riders to a dominant position which seemed certain to snap their five-match losing streak.

The Royals made a fast start with openers Ajinkya Rahane (34 off 21 balls) and Sanju Samson (22 off 15) adding 53 for the first wicket in just five overs before the two spinners claimed five wickets in seven overs to undermine the run chase.

Narine bagged Rahane lbw before bowling captain Steve Smith (2) while Chawla rattled Samson’s stumps before having Ben Stokes (11) brilliantly caught in the deep by Andre Russell and Stuart Binny in similar fashion.

The KKR innings suffered a similar wobble at 80 for four before Karthik struck two successive sixes off Jofra Archer (0-28) in the penultimate over and two more off Jaydev Unadkat (1-50) in the final over to boost a modest total and finish with 97 from 50 balls with seven fours and nine sixes in total.

Fast bowler Varun Aaron was involved in all of the first four wickets to fall having Chris Lynn (0) bowled off a bottom edge in the first over and fellow opener Shubman Gill (14) bowled by a perfect inswinger.

Nitish Rana (21) slapped a Shreyas Gopal googly to Aaron and backward point and then Sunil Narine (11) was run out by Aaron’s throw after a horrible call by captain Karthik.

The result leaves both teams with four victories and eight points but, with the Knight Riders having played 11 games it is almost certain that KKR will not qualify for the playoffs while the Royals will have to win all of their remaining games.

KOLKATA KNIGHT RIDERS: Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Shubman Gill, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik (capt), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Carlos Brathwaite, Piyush Chawla, Yarra Prithviraj, Prasidh Krishna

RAJASTHAN ROYALS: Ajinkya Rahane, Sanju Samson, Steven Smith (capt), Ben Stokes, Riyan Parag, Stuart Binny, Shreyas Gopal, Jofra Archer, Jaydev Unadkat, Oshane Thomas, Varun Aaron