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Rajasthan Royals (RR) tasted their first defeat in the 2020 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after falling 15-runs short of the target set up by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), on Wednesday (September 30).
This was the second consecutive victory for the Knight Riders that saw them rise to the second spot in the points table.
Earlier in the match, Steve Smith won the toss and chose to bowl first.
KKR posted a challenging total of 174/6 in 20 overs, courtesy valuable contributions from Shubman Gill, Andre Russell and Eoin Morgan.
Shubman missed his half-century by three runs while Morgan made 34 off 23 balls.
Nagarkoti shines in KKR’s triumph
Chasing the target, the Royals couldn’t have imagined the worst start. They lost the likes of Steve Smith, Jos Buttler and Sanu Samson inside 40 runs.
Kamlesh Nagarkoti struck twice in his very first over, removing both Robin Uthappa and Riyan Parag to reduce RR to 42/5.
Nagarkoti conceded 13 runs from his spell of two overs and picked up two crucial wickets.
Nagarkoti shone once again in the fifteenth over when he pulled off a stunning catch to get rid off Jofra Archer, who tried to slog a good length delivery over the bowlers’ head. Archer, however, couldn’t connect it properly and the ball rose high up in the air towards long-on. Nagarkoti rushed in and leapt parallel to the ground to grab the catch.
Here’s the video:
https://twitter.com/AdamDhoni1/status/1311557223118630912
In the end, RR was restricted to 137/9 in twenty overs. Apart from Nagarkoti, both Shivam Mavi and Varun Chakravarthy picked up two wickets each.
“I want to thank my family, the KKR support staff and everyone else who have stood by me. Many people like my family, Dravid Sir, Abhishek (Nayar) bhaiyya. There have been so many people to thank. It’s a nice experience to learn from Pat Cummins who is a really good bowler. I try to execute what I learn from him,” said Nagarkoti at the post-match conference.
