Dubai: In the 12th match of the Indian Premier League 2020 edition, Rajasthan Royal's lead pacer Jofra Archer helped his side restrict Kolkata Knight Riders to 174/6 here at the Dubai International Stadium.
Asked to bat first, KKR's opening pair Shubman Gill and Sunil Narine gave a decent start to the team by adding up 36 runs in just 4.5 overs. Narine once again failed to give KKR a blistering start. He was dismissed at the score of 15 by a slower ball of Jaydev Unadkat.
After Narine's dismissal, Nitish Rana joined Gill in the middle. Both played some glorious shots and helped their side reach past 82 by the end of 10th over. Rana was then sent back to the dugout by Rahul Tewatia.
RR skipper Steve Smith brought back their lethal pacer Archer in the search of wickets and he did not disappoint. Archer in the first over of spell picked the wicket of set batsman Gill while in the very next over he dismissed KKR skipper Dinesh Karthik.
KKR's premium all-rounder Andre Russell was on the field after the dismissal of Gill. The right-hand batsman smashed three sixes before hitting one high in the air against the bowling of Ankit Rajpoot.
After the dismissal of all key batsmen, Eoin Morgan along with tailenders helped KKR reach 174 by scoring 34 runs off just 23 balls.
For RR, Archer was the pick of the bowlers as he picked two wickets by giving away just 18 runs. While Tom Curran had a bad day as he leaked runs at an economy just below 10.