T20 2018: All around Kolkata record facile seven-wicket win over Rajasthan

Kolkatas Dinesh Karthik PicsAFPKolkata stretched their winning run to two games by registering a facile sevenwicket victory over Rajasthan in a T20 clash at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium on Wednesday After restricting Rajasthan to 1608 the twotime champions who also won against Delhi by 71 runs in their last game rode on Robin Uthappas 36ball 48 6x4 2x6 to set up the chase and eventually win with seven balls to spare posting 1633 in 185 overs Skipper Dinesh Karthik 42 not out 2x4 2x6 and Nitish Rana 35 not out 2x4 1x6 combined for an unbroken 61run partnership for the fourth wicket to ease past the line Karthik hit a six off Ben Laughlin to secure the win in styleKolkata never looked in trouble despite losing outofform Australian opener Chris Lynn 0 in only the second ball of their innings with offspinner Krishnappa Gowtham 223 flattening his stumps with a ball that spun sharply into the batsman who tried to cut Uthappa and Narine then came together for a 69run stand for the first wicket Uthappa looked in imperious form hitting Jaydev Unadkat for three fours in the fifth over Narine took time to get into the groove smashing a six off Laughlin over deep midwicket using the depth of the crease to good effect Narine was run out soon after the Powerplay in which the visitors had raced to 531 while Uthappa fell two short of a half century holing out to Ben Stokes who took a brilliant catch at the longon boundary off Gowthams bowlingEarlier Kolkata bowlers picked up wickets at regular intervals to restrict RR to 1608 in 20 overs Narine had an off day leaking 48 runs in four overs without taking a wicket but inform Rana put his hand up to remove openers Ajinkya Rahane 36 19b 5x4 1x6 and DArcy Short 44 43b 5x4 1x6 while Tom Curran shaved off the lower order with two scalps in two deliveriesFor the hosts Short was the topscorer but never got going while explosive England wicketkeeperbatsman Jos Buttler helped them reach a fighting target with a 18ball 24 not out In the last over young fast bowler Shivam Mavi 140 bowled three wide balls and Chris Lynn dropped Dhawal Kulkarni 3 but he was later run out The visitors choosing to field first after skipper Karthik won the toss were given a good start by wrist spinners Piyush Chawla 118 and Kuldeep Yadav 123 who combined well to leak just nine runs in the first three oversRahane then took on Narine the most economical bowler in the tournament so far hitting him for four backtoback fours straight up The India Test team vicecaptain swept and drove the West Indian mystery spinner with aplomb to garner 18 runs off the over Rahane looked in sublime form as he smashed Mavi for a flat six down the wicket in the next over as Short also milked the U19 World Cup winner for a boundary After six overs Rajasthan were 480 They then lost two quick wickets First Karthik effected a brilliant diving run out to get rid of the dangerous Rahane off Nitish Rana breaking the 54run opening wicket stand between him and ShortSanju Samson followed suit soon after picking out Kuldeep at deep midwicket off Mavi and just when Short was looking to accelerate Rana castled him with a slider in the next over to break the 36run third wicket partnership with Rahul Tripathi The inaugural T20 winners never recovered from there and were short by 1020 runsBrief scores Rajasthan 1608 in 20 overs DArcy Short 44 Ajinkya Rahane 36 Ntiish Rana 211 Tom Curran 219 lost to Kolkata 1633 in 185 overs Robin Uthappa 48 Dinesh Karthik 42 not out Nitish Rana 35 not out K Gowtham 223 by seven wicketsCatch up on all the latest sports news and updates here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever