With the help of an aggressive half-century from young opener Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rajasthan Royals defeated Kolkata Knight Riders by nine wickets in the IPL on Thursday (May 11). With the win, Rajasthan moved up to the third spot in the points table and also snapped their last three losing streak. Jaiswal scored the fastest half-century of the IPL in 13 balls.

Spin bowler Yuzvendra Chahal did not allow Kolkata to score big by taking four wickets. The Kolkata team could only manage 149 runs for eight wickets in 20 overs. Venkatesh Iyer scored the highest 57 runs for Kolkata. He faced 42 balls during his half-century innings and hit two fours and four sixes.

In response, Rajasthan scored 151 runs for one wicket and achieved the target in 13.1 overs with 41 balls remaining. Jaiswal was celebrating as if he had completed a century when he got the team to victory with a four, but he played this inning with his good shot selection. He played a flamboyant inning of 98 not out in 47 balls and hit 12 fours and five brilliant sixes.

Jaiswal could not hit six for a century
Apart from Jaiswal, Sanju Samson scored an unbeaten 48 off 29 balls with the help of two fours and five sixes. Both played an unbeaten partnership of 121 runs for the second wicket. Although Sanju kept scoring runs for the team, if Jaiswal had more strikes, he could have completed his century. When Sanju himself was playing on 48, he gave the strike to Jaiswal and indicated to hit a six, but Jaiswal was able to hit a four and could not complete the century.

Jaiswal's strike from the first ball
Jaiswal adopted an aggressive style from the very first ball. He targeted captain Nitish Rana, who came to bowl the first over of the innings. He hit two sixes and two fours in his four consecutive balls and then hit a four on the last ball. He scored 26 runs in this over. Butler (00) was run out in the next over. After this, in the third over, Jaiswal scored 14 runs including three fours off Shardul. However, he had some trouble in playing Varun Chakraborty and after playing his five balls he was able to score one run and with this one run, he completed his brilliant half-century. After this, Sanju also kept scoring runs from the other end.

Venkatesh's half-century in 39 balls
Earlier, Rajasthan captain Sanju Samson won the toss and decided to bowl first. Fast bowler Trent Boult gave KKR the initial shock. He got Jason Roy (10) caught out. Then Bolt also sent Gurbaj (18) to the pavilion in his second over. While Rajasthan bowlers kept taking wickets from one end, Venkatesh kept playing his shots. Venkatesh opened his hands by hitting two sixes off Ashwin. Meanwhile, Chahal made Nitish walk. KKR batsmen were struggling in front of Rajasthan's tight bowling. KKR completed their 100 runs in the 13th over. Taking a single off Asif's ball, Venkatesh completed his half-century in 39 balls.

Chahal changed the game
KKR was expecting a big score from Venkatesh but Chahal's one overturned the game. In the 17th over of the innings, he broke the hopes of the hosts by getting Venkatesh out and caught by Boult. He also sent Shardul Thakur (01) to the pavilion in the same over. However, Rinku Singh, famous for his aggressive innings, could not do much in this match and became the victim of Chahal after scoring 16 runs in 18 balls.

Successful statement
Yashasvi Jaiswal said after this brilliant inning – I always try to perform well. Feels good that we won. Happy with my shot selection as I was learning till the end of the match and we won. Sanju Bhai said don't worry and keep on. Got congratulations from all the players.

(pc amarujala)