Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday continued their stellar run in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) 2019 after defeating Rajasthan Royals by eight wickets at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium in Jaipur. English bowler Harry Gurney was the pick of the bowlers for KKR as he capped his debut with two wickets in his four-over quota while giving away just 25 runs. Gurney said the pitch suited his cutters and he was happy to make a good outing at this debut.
“It was a pitch that suited my cutter options, so a nice one to make my debut on. I work hard on my variations and on my yorker and it is nice to have them in tough situations. I am working on a knuckleball but I don’t think it’ll be ready during the IPL, maybe somewhere in the English summer,” said Gurney during the post-match presentation.
RR posted a modest total of 139-3 in 20 overs following a superb batting display by Aussie batter Steve Smith, who scored an unbeaten 73 off 59 balls. Gurney troubled the RR batters during his spell and picked up the prized wickets of Jos Buttler, who was looking dangerous at that point of time, and Rahul Tripathi.
Chasing 140, KKR were off to a flyer as Sunil Narine and Chris Lynn demolished the RR bowlers with their outstanding stroke play. Narine smashed 47 runs off 25 balls, whereas, Lynn hammered 50 runs in 32 deliveries to help KKR bag their fourth victory in six matches.
