IPL 2019: Karthik's heroics in vain, Riyan guides Rajasthan to 3-wicket win

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], Apr 26 (ANI): Seventeen-year-old Riyan Parag overshadowed Dinesh Karthik’s heroics to guide Rajasthan Royals to a three-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders here at the Eden Gardens on Thursday.
With the win, Rajasthan has pushed Royal Challengers Bangalore to the bottom place in the point table, taking the seventh position. Kolkata, on the other hand, is in the sixth position.
Chasing 176, Rajasthan got off to a brilliant start as Ajinkya Rahane and Sanju Samson added 53 runs for the opening wicket. Sunil Narine struck Rahane leg-before for 34 to get a vital breakthrough.
In the next over, Piyush Chawla got rid Samson (22) to unsettle Rajasthan. With captain Steve Smith, Rajasthan was still in a position to turn the tables. However, Narine returned and dismissed Smith cheaply for two.
Riyan Parag formed brief stands with Ben Stokes (11), Stuart Binny (11) and Shreyas Gopal (18) to shrug off the pressure before finding support in Jofar Archer.
Riyan and Archer punished Kolkata bowlers in the death overs to inch closer towards the victory. With 18 required from 12 balls, Riyan (47) whacked a six to Russell before his bat hit the top of the stumps, forcing him to leave Archer in the middle. Having needed nine from the final over, Archer smashed a four and a six to Prasidh Krishna, taking Rajasthan over the line with four balls to spare.
Earlier, captain Dinesh Karthik's monumental effort powered Kolkata to 175 for the loss of six after sent in to bat.
Varun Aaron got a major breakthrough for Rajasthan as he got rid of Chris Lynn for a three-ball golden duck in the opening over and returned to dismiss Shubman Gill for 14. Soon after, Aaron sent just-settled Nitish Rana (21) as he caught the left-hander at cover off Gopal.
Karthik and Narine stitched 38-runs together to recover sinking Kolkata at 42/3 under nine overs. On a Jofar Archer's delivery, a poor running between Kolkata batsmen resulted in the dismissal of Narine (11). Karthik played to deep square leg and ran for double but Narine was very slow and was well out of the crease at the non-striker's end when Aaron threw the ball and Rahane whipped the bails off.
Karthik built brief partnerships with big-hitter Andre Russell (14) and Carlos Brathwaite (5). Both West Indies batsmen tried to display their attacking form but Rajasthan denied them from going big.
Kolkata captain and Rinku Singh added 44 runs for the seventh wicket in the death overs. Karthik finished 97 unbeaten, his highest ever score in the history of IPL to post a decent but below-par total.
Rajasthan will next play against Sunrisers Hyderabad on April 27, whereas Kolkata will take on Mumbai Indians on April 28.
Brief scores: Rajasthan Royals 177/7 (R Parag 47, AM Rahane 34, PP Chawla 3-20, SP Narine 2-25) beat Kolkata Knight Riders 175/6 (KD Karthik 97*, N Rana 21, VR Aaron 2-20) by 3 wickets. (ANI)