Sidelights:
Sometimes even the game of cricket needs the skills of Chess! This is precisely what happened in this game. Although the match was tied first after both the teams played 20 overs and then even after the eliminator over. But Watson and Smith had a different idea in mind when they came out to chase 11 runs in the eliminator. RR just needed a tie in that over as they have hit more boundaries than KKR. So when RR needed three runs off the final ball, Smith just dabbed the ball far enough so that he can get only two runs and match got tied again and RR won the game. Smith did not try to score three runs and applied his mind, of course Watson and Dravid had a big say in that.
IPL 7 | Match 19 | RR Vs KKR
Venue: Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi
Toss: RR won and elected to bat first
Playing XIs:
RR: Ajinkya Rahane, Karun Nair, Sanju Samson, Shane Watson, Stuart Binny, Steven Smith, James Faulkner, Rajat Bhatia, Kane Richardson, Praveen Tambe, Iqbal Abdulla
KKR: Gautam Gambhir, Manvinder Bisla, Jacques Kallis, Manish Pandey, Suryakumar Yadav, Shakib Al Hasan, Robin Uthappa, R Vinay Kumar, Piyush Chawla, Sunil Narine, Morne Morkel
Mini Score Card:
RR 152/5 (20) Run rate: 7.60
Ajinkya Rahane 72 (59) | R Vinay Kumar 2/30
Shane Watson 33 (24) | Shakib Al Hasan 1/23
KKR 152/8 (20) Run rate: 7.60
Gautam Gambhir 45 (44) | James Faulkner 3/11 (2)
Shakib Al Hasan 29* (18) | Praveen Tambe 2/31 (4)
SUPER OVER
KKR 11/2 (1) ALL OUT
RR 11/0 (1)
Result: Match tied, RR won by one over eliminator and on boundary count.
Points: RR 2 (Total 6) | KKR 0 (Total 4)
Man of the match: James Faulkner (RR)
Umpires: Aleem Dar | AK Chaudhary | Vineet Kulkarni (3rd) | K Srinath (Reserve)
Match Referee: Graeme Labrooy
How they played the game
Powerplay: RR 45 runs, 1 wicket | KKR 33 runs, 1 wicket
First 50 runs: RR 44 balls | KKR 55 balls
50-100 runs: RR 41 balls | KKR 45 balls
100-150 runs: RR 34 balls | KKR 31 balls
Extras: KKR 5 (5 Wd) | RR 11 (B 1, LB 2, W 6, NB 2)
Best Partnership
RR: 3rd wicket – 64 runs off 45 balls between Watson (33) and Rahane (31)
KKR: 5th wicket – 49 runs off 27 balls between Yadav (30) and Shakib (17)
Fours and SIXES
RR 17 Fours (6 by Rahane, 5 by Watson, 4 by Samson and 2 by Smith) | 1 SIX by Rahane
KKR 12 Fours (4 by Gambhir, 3 each by Yadav and Shakib, 1 each by Kallis and Pandey) | 2 SIXES (1 each by Pandey and Yadav)
Important fact about the game
- RR won the game on virtue of having more boundaries (17+1) hit than KKR (12+2)
In the PIC: Steven Smith and Shane Watson celebrate RR win
Picture courtesy: ESPN-Cricinfo