Rajasthan Royals left Eden Gardens with nothing more than regret and a bruised net run-rate after Kolkata Knight Riders chased down 156 with one ball to spare. Riyan Parag, captaining in place of the injured Sanju Samson, leaned heavily on spin – 13 overs in all – and afterwards was pressed on why an uncapped seamer was held back for the 18th and 20th overs.
“He was almost there to bowl, I feel, the 14th and the 16th as well,” Parag said of Brijesh Sharma. “But then they [KKR] lost wickets and then there were left-handers so I brought myself in and the spinners were going really well so I showed trust in the spinners that we might get a slog or something to get a wicket. We almost did that.”
At 73 for 5 KKR looked cooked, and the Royals’ approach had plenty to do with it. Ravindra Jadeja, Ravi Bishnoi and debutant Yash Raj Punja all found sharp turn, conceding only 4.6 an over between them. The decisive moment, however, slipped through Nandre Burger’s fingers: Rinku Singh, on eight, drilled Jadeja straight to long-on where Burger shelled the chance. “Spin was extracting a lot,” Parag noted. “The way Jaddu, Bishi, Punja all bowled, I felt the need of the hour was spin… just a few errors here and there that cost us two points.”
With Rinku and fellow left-hander Anukul Roy settled, Parag felt the time had come to return to pace. Jadeja and Punja turn the ball into left-handers; Parag did not want to feed the arc. “And once Bishnoi’s over was done, I felt spinners might go here because of the left-handed combination so I felt Brijesh was going to go 18 and 20,” he said.
Burger, kept in hand for a possible Super Over, never did get the ball. Brijesh’s penultimate over went for nine, leaving 12 to defend. A wide yorker missed its mark, Rinku muscled the final delivery over long-off and KKR finally had their first win of the campaign.
The Royals, four wins from six, head to Lucknow on 22 April. Parag insisted confidence remains intact. “When it works out, it looks nice,” he shrugged, “I felt it worked out today as well – almost.”
