Ravichandran Ashwin produced a magic delivery against dangerous Andre Russell during match 30 of IPL 2022 between Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders at Brabourne Stadium, Mumbai. KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer won the toss and opted to field.

It was a game changing delivery from the veteran off-spinner to dismiss Russell, who has had a stellar season so far in IPL 2022 in the KKR colours. The power hitter had come in at No.5 after Nitish Rana’s dismissal. However, the game was under control thanks to Shreyas Iyer and Aaron Finch’s brilliant counter-attacking knocks.

In the 14th over, Ashwin bowled a good length ball. Russell attempted a forward defence, but the ball deviated slightly and went past his bat to rattle the stumps. The off-spinner was ecstatic after dismissing Russell for a golden duck and went on a sprint to celebrate the crucial wicket.

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Except, Sunil Narine none of the KKR bowlers had a great outing as Rajasthan posted a massive total of 217 runs on the board. Jos Buttler was the top performer for RR as he smashed 103 runs off 61 deliveries.

Rajasthan Royals hold nerves to beat KKR in a run fest

In reply, Kolkata had a disastrous start to their innings. Openers Aaron Finch and Sunil Narine were involved in a mix-up on the very first ball. Finch drived the ball in the covers region and went for a run. Unfortunately, Narine wasn’t able to complete the single as Shimron Hetmyer launched a direct hit at the striker’s end.

Aaron Finch and captain Shreyas Iyer then had a 107 run partnership for the second wicket. At the 16-over mark, KKR’s score was 178-4. They needed 40 more runs and had 6 wickets in hand. The match seemed to be tilted in the favour of Shreyas Iyer’s team.

However, Yuzvendra Chahal had other plans as he took 4 wickets in the next over. He also registered a hat-trick by dismissing Iyer, Shivam Mavi and Cummins on consecutive deliveries. Chahal ended with final figures of 5-40.

The match, however, had another twist as no. 10 batter Umesh Yadav launched an attack against Trent Boult in the 18th over. KKR collected 20 runs from that over and another 7 from the 19th over. RR debutant Obed McCoy had 11 runs to defend in the final over. The medium-pacer kept his calm and struck 2 wickets to hand Rajasthan Royals a 7-run victory.

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