Chasing 153 for victory in order to arrest their slide, Kolkata Knight Riders had to get off to a brisk start.
But KKR were jolted early as Rajasthan Royals took out Aaron Finch and Baba Indrajith inside the Powerplay overs.
Captain Shreyas Iyer and Nitish Rana then kept the foot on the pedal, taking a fancy to RR spinners Ravichandran Ashwin and Yuzi Chahal.
Just when it seemed like the duo would take the team to victory, Trent Boult struck to remove Iyer for 34.
With 61 needed off 79 balls, Rinku Singh came to the crease and got off the blocks quickly, cutting a loose ball to third man for a four.
This start was enough to give Rinku some confidence and Rana some belief in his new batting partner as they scored at a brisk pace.
The duo was happy to rotate the strike against Ashwin and Chahal at the beginning, but Rinku smashed pacer Kuldeep Sen for a six in the 16th over and with 39 needed off 24, KKR were very much in the chase.
Prasidh Krishna did his team no favours by bowling extras as Rinku clobbered him for a four off a top edge over fine leg. Rana was happy to take the singles and give Rinku the strike, knowing he was carrying the momentum of the match.
With 31 needed off 18, Rinku went after Chahal, taking two fours in the over while also taking the singles and twos. 13 came off Chahal's over.
With 18 needed off 12 balls, Prasidh bowled three wides in the over with Rinku hitting two fours plus singles and twos to bring up the 50 run stand.
The usually parsimonious Prasidh gave away 17 and Rana got the winning runs with a six off Sen's bowling.
Rinku was a revelation with his big blows and running betweeen wickets. Rana and Rinku put on 66 runs off just 38 balls to help KKR record its first win in 5 matches.
