IPL 2021, RR vs KKR | Morris returns a four-wicket haul as Royals restrict Knight Riders to 133/9

Chris Morris was effective at the death yet again as Rajasthan Royals pacers combined accuracy and guile to restrict Kolkata Knight Riders to 133 for nine in the IPL in Mumbai on Saturday.

Royals pacers, who were smart with change of pace pace, stifled the KKR batsmen who could not find a way to deal with it after being put in to bat.

Chris Morris, the most expensive player in the IPL auction history, proved his worth with a four-wicket haul.

The other pacers, Jaydev Unadkat (1/25), Chetan Sakariya (1/31) and Mustafizur Rahman (1/22), were also impressive.

KKR were not able to find rhythm in their underwhelming innings. The highly rated Shubman Gill (11) disappointed yet again. He was dropped before his uncomfortable stay in the middle finally ended with a run out off a brilliant direct hit from Jos Buttler. The Royals pacers were impressive with their variations and did not offer the batsmen any freebies in the powerplay as KKR laboured to 25 for one in six overs.

It became 45 for two in the eighth over when Gill’s opening partner Nitish Rana (22) made room to cut a wide ball off Sakariya but the extra bounce led to his downfall as he ended up edging it to the wicketkeeper.

Skipper Eoin Morgan sent Sunil Narine ahead of himself to give the innings a much needed boost but it did not work with the West Indian departing after hitting one boundary, leaving KKR at 55 for three in 10 overs.

KKR’s troubles worsened after Morgan got run out without facing a ball following a bad mix-up with Rahul Tripathi (36 off 26).

Their most destructive batsman Andre Russell had to wait till the 16th over to get into the middle with the innings not going anywhere at 94 for five.

Dinesh Karthik (25) came up with some badly needed boundaries in his bid to improve the scoring rate.

Russell smashed a straight six off Morris in the fifth ball he faced but that remained his only big hit of the night.

Morris removed both Russell and Karthik in the same over which allowed Royals to limit KKR to under 140.