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Kolkata Knight Riders' batting woes continued as they went down to the Rajasthan Royals by six wickets and suffered their fourth straight defeat in IPL 2021 in Mumbai on Saturday, April 24, 2021.
Put in to bat on a good pitch at the Wankhede stadium, KKR's batsmen struggled to impose themselves and finished with a below-par 133 for 9 in their 20 overs.
KKR's slow start in the Powerplay was the big factor in their batting flop show.
KKR's opening pair Nitish Rana and Shubman Gill have a fair bit of IPL experience but failed to take advantage of the fielding restrictions in the Powerplay.
In T20 cricket, the first six overs of the Powerplay are crucial, but KKR's openers wasted it with some mindless batting. They scored only two boundaries in the Powerplay and were struggling on a lowly 25 for 1 after the first six overs.
Gill got a lifeline when he was dropped by Yashasvi Jaiswal off Mustafizur Rahman in the fourth over, but failed to cash in and was run out, attempting a risky single a couple of overs later.
After the slow start, KKR could not regain the momentum in the middle overs as the Royals came up with a disciplined performance with the ball.
Rahul Tripathi was the only KKR batsman who scored quickly as he hit 36 from 26 balls as KKR kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
The run chase proved too easy for the Royals who cruised to victory in 18.5 overs, without having to hit top gear.