Ajinkya Rahane revealed that the plan was going all guns blazing in the powerplay and holding on to things till the 12th over. Following the victory over Rajasthan, Kolkata is now placed in the seventh position on the IPL 2025 points table
Ajinkya Rahane (Pic: X/@KKRiders)
In the IPL 2025 match against Rajasthan Royals (RR), Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) emerged victorious by one run at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium.
Following the side's victory, KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane said that winning by one or two runs gives a lot of satisfaction to the team.
"It was really close but really happy, when you win by one or two runs it gives you a lot of satisafaction. (Rahmanullah) Gurbaz and Angkrish (Raghuvanshi) played well and that finish from (Andre) Russell was really good," said skipper Ajinkya Rahane during the post-match presentation.
Further, the 36-year-old stated the plan of going all guns blazing in the powerplay and holding on to things till the 12th over.
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"The plan was to go hard in the powerplay and then stabilise things till the 12th over. It was not easy for a new batter so me and Angkrish were talking to take it deep. (On the importance of fielding well) It is really important, if you can save 10-12 runs on the field it is great. If you can take a couple of good catches and effect a run-out, it makes all the difference," he added.
Coming to the IPL 2025 match, KKR won the toss and opted to bat first. After Sunil Narine was dismissed cheaply, a half-century stand between skipper Rahane and Gurbaz (35 in 25 balls, with four boundaries and a six) steadied the ship. A 61-run stand for the fourth wicket between Angkrish Raghuvanshi (44 in 31 balls, with five fours) and Andre Russell (57* in 25 balls, with four boundaries and six sixes) gave the innings much-needed speed. Russell and Rinku (19* in six balls, with a four and two sixes) took KKR to 206/4 in their 20 overs.
Jofra Archer, Yudhvir Singh, Riyan and Maheesh Theekshana took a wicket each.
During the run-chase of 207 runs, RR was 71/5, but a 92-run stand between skipper Riyan Parag (95 in 45 balls, with six fours and eight sixes) and Shimron Hetmyer (29 in 23 balls, with a four and six) gave them a massive chance. Despite fireworks from Shubham Dubey (25* in 14 balls, with a four and two sixes) and Jofra Archer (12 in eight balls, with a four), RR fell short by a run, finishing at 205/8 in their 20 overs.
Varun Chakravarthy (2/32), Harshit Rana (2/41) and Moeen Ali (2/43) were the top wicket-takers for KKR.
Following the victory over Rajasthan, Kolkata is now placed in the sixth position on the IPL 2025 points table. On the other hand, RR is in eighth place with nine defeats.
(With ANI Inputs)
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