The 18th edition of Tata IPL 2025 is currently the talk of the town. The race to playoffs has begun and every team is looking forward to secure a position in top 4. In an exciting and thrilling encounter on May 4, 2025, Kolkata Knight Riders secure a win by a mere 1 run over Rajasthan Royals. The clash between the two teams took place at Eden Gardens in Kolkata. This win was a crucial one for KKR as their playoff hopes are still alive.
KKR won the toss and elected to bat first. They put a formidable total of 206/4 in their 20 overs. An unbeaten blistering knock of 57 off 25 balls was played by Andre Russell. His quick fire knock led KKR to a respectable total and helped them in winning the match. Rinku Singh also played a crucial role as he made 19 runs in just 6 deliveries. Both Rinku and Russell managed to get 22 runs in the final over. Angkrish Raghuvanshi, a young lad has also played a significant knock of 44 runs in 31 balls. The captain Ajinkya Rahane scored 30 runs in 24 balls and top order batsman Rahmanullah Gurbaz scored 35 runs off 25 deliveries. Overall, a complete batting performance display helped KKR in setting up a target of 200+ runs.
Rajasthan Royals, on the other hand, managed to get 205/8 in their 20 overs, falling short just by a run. The top scorer, Riyan Parag played a sensational knock of 95 runs in 45 deliveries but unfortunately could not cross the finishing line and ended up on losing side. Other batsmen played some decent knocks like Yashasvi Jaiswal scored 34 runs in 21 balls, Shimron Hetmyer scored 29 runs in 25 balls and Shubham Dubey scored 25 runs in 14 balls. All these knocks were pretty good but not enough for RR to secure a win. As a result, they got defeated barely by a run.
The bowling display from the both the teams was an average one. The bowlers conceded many runs in both the innings. The best bowling spell of KKR was bowled by Harshit Rana, conceding 41 runs in 4 overs and claiming 2 wickets. The best bowling spell of RR was bowled by Riyan Parag as he gave away 21 runs only in 3 overs and took 1 wicket.
The player of the match award was won by Andre Russell for his explosive and unbeaten knock which propelled KKR to a competitive total.
Though KKR emerged as winners but RR fought brilliantly and almost chased the total. Such intense and thrilling matches are bound to happen in coming few days as the teams are hustling hard to reach the playoff and ultimately, win the tournament.