Kolkata Knight Riders snapped their five-match losing streak after defeating Rajasthan Royals by 7 wickets. Nitish Rana (48 not out) and Rinku Singh (42 not out) starred in a chase of 153 for KKR. Clearly this wasn't a 152-pitch, but with the kind of powerplay that KKR had where they lose both their openers and started off overcautiously, they'd be pleased. Iyer laid the platform, fell to a pretty soft strangle down the leg-side; Rana was the one who gave the chase some momentum when he took
Ashwin apart in the eleventh over, and Rinku was in the zone right from the start. Earlier, Rajasthan Royals rode on Sanju Samson's 54 and Shimron Hetmyer's unbeaten 27-run cameo to post a respectable total of 152 for 5 after Kolkata Knight Riders captain Shreyas Iyer won the toss and invited the Sanju Samson-led side to bat first at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium on Monday. Samson smashed seven fours and a six in his 49-ball 54, while Shimron Hetmyer provided late charge with an unbeaten 13-ball 27. However, Jos Buttler (22), Riyan Parag (19) and Karun Nair (13) got starts but couldn't capitalise. Tim Southee (2/46) scalped two wickets, while Umesh Yadav (1/24), Anukul Roy (1/28) and Shivam Mavi (1/33) accounted for one each.
