How Ashwin's third over helped KKR break free off the shackles

India's Ravichandran Ashwin on April 10 became the first batter in Indian Premier League (IPL) history to be retired out after he walked off following his 28 for Rajasthan Royals. (Source/Image: AFP/IPL)

A target of 153 can become a tricky one, especially when only the previous day, 195 total was nearly chased down on the same pitch.

Rajasthan Royals found the scoring not so much to their liking after they were put in to bat by Kolkata Knight Riders captain Shreyas Iyer. However, it was a similar story when KKR also began their run chase.

There was very little to choose from between both the teams in the first 10 overs when the corresponding scores after Power Play were nearly identical, KKR replying with 32 for two to RR’s 38 for one after six overs while at the halfway stage, KKR were 59 for two as against RR’s 62 for two.

KKR did not have to worry as the target was not so imposing and they had their captain Shreyas Iyer and his dependable left-handed batsman Nitish Rana, who is taking the responsibility as a batsman with every match that he is playing. KKR were off to a poor start, losing the Australian limited-overs captain Aaron Finch for just four from seven balls, chopping Kuldeep Sen on to his stumps in attempting to cut the right-arm pacer.

The other opener Baba Indrajith showed some promise early on with a neatly driven four off Prasidh Krishna in the second over of the innings and another boundary with a scoop off the same bowler in the sixth over. However, the pressure was on KKR when Indrajith also fell, top-edging a pull to his Chennai citymate R Ashwin in the last over of Power Play.

With Iyer and Rana ticking the scores along without taking much risks, KKR needed one big over to turn things around in their favour. That big over came in the 11^th over sent down by Ravichandran Ashwin, who had before this match taken eight wickets for RR this season.

The combined wickets – 27 in all in this IPL – between Ashwin and leg-spinner Yuzvendra Chahal have been one of the success stories for RR this IPL. With 94 needed to win in the last 10 overs, Ashwin was expected to keep it tight, like he did in his first two overs which went for 12 runs.

However, in his third over, the 11^th of the KKR innings, he gave away 16 runs, the one big over that the two-time IPL champions and last year’s runners-up needed so badly.

Left-handed Nitish Rana negated Ashwin’s tricks by slamming him for 16 runs including a reverse hit for fours off the first and the third deliveries while going on one knee and slog-sweeping for a massive six over mid-wicket off the second delivery.

With 14 runs off the first three deliveries of the 11^th and two more runs in the rest of the over, KKR broke the shackles and felt a little comfortable.

Rana going on the offensive also gave Iyer the confidence to go after the spinner. This time Yuzvendra Chahal, who was the bowling hero with five wickets including a hat-trick in the previous match that the two teams met two weeks ago, was at the receiving end in the 12^th over when Iyer slammed him for a six over wide long-on. The 12^th over by Chahal fetched KKR 10 runs.

From here on, runs were flowing freely off KKR’s bats. Even after the fall of Iyer, his replacement, Rinku Singh took charge and scored a brisk 42 not out including 17 runs in the penultimate over from Prasidh Krishna that also included a couple of wides.

KKR, who never looked in trouble in their run chase, however needed one big over to take the game away from RR and that came in the 11^th over. They never looked back from there on, to eventually win by seven wickets.