IPL 2021: Sanju, Morris excel as Royals return to winning ways

Mumbai: Chris Morris' four-wicket burst in the death overs and skipper Sanju Samson's measured innings gave Rajasthan Royals a much-needed win over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in the IPL here on Saturday.

Royals pacers, who were smart with their change of pace, restricted KKR to 133/9 after Sanju opted to bowl.

Royals lost their openers, Jos Buttler (5) and Yashasvi Jaiswal (22), in the Powerplay but they never lost control of the chase and got over the line in 18.5 overs for their second win in five matches.

For KKR, it was their fourth loss in five matches.

IPL 2021 POINTS TABLE

Pos	Team		Mat	Won	Lost	Tied	N/R	Pts	NRR
1		DC	8	6	2	0	0	12	+0.547
2		CSK	7	5	2	0	0	10	+1.263
3		RCB	7	5	2	0	0	10	-0.171
4		MI	7	4	3	0	0	8	+0.062
5		RR	7	3	4	0	0	6	-0.19
6		PBKS	8	3	5	0	0	6	-0.368
7		KKR	7	2	5	0	0	4	-0.494
8		SRH	7	1	6	0	0	2	-0.623

Morris, the most expensive player in the IPL auction history, proved his worth with figures of 4/23 in four overs.

The other pacers, Jaydev Unadkat (1/25), Chetan Sakariya (1/31) and Mustafizur Rahman (1/22), also made valuable contributions.

Royals witnessed a nervy moment early in the chase when Buttler received a nasty blow on his helmet as he tried to negotiate a sharp bouncer from Pat Cummins. Soon after, the England cricketer was trapped in front of the wicket by mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy.

Jaiswal, playing his first game of the season, played some exquisite strokes before getting caught in the deep. Royals were 50/2 in the first six overs.

Dube & Sanju — Shivam Dube and Sanju Samson during their partnership. Photo: Twitter/IPL

After Jaiswal's dismissal, Sanju (42 not out off 41) stitched a 45-run stand with Shivam Dube (22) before getting his team home alongside David Miller (24 not out off 23).

Sanju, who is known for his free flowing strokeplay, curbed his natural instinct to anchor the chase.

Earlier, KKR were not able to find rhythm in their innings.

Shubman Gill (11) disappointed yet again. He was dropped before his uncomfortable stay in the middle finally ended with a brilliant direct hit by Buttler.

Royals pacers were impressive with their variations and did not offer the batsmen any freebies in the Powerplay as KKR laboured to 25/1 in six overs.

It became 45/2 in the eighth over when Gill's opening partner Nitish Rana (22) made room to cut a wide ball off Sakariya but the extra bounce led to the southpaw's downfall as he ended up edging it to the wicketkeeper.

Skipper Eoin Morgan sent Sunil Narine ahead of himself to give the innings a boost but it did not work with the West Indian departing after hitting one boundary, leaving KKR at 55/3 in 10 overs.

KKR's troubles worsened after Morgan got run out without facing a ball following a bad mix-up with Rahul Tripathi (36 off 26).

Their most destructive batsman Andre Russell had to wait till the 16th over to get into the middle with the innings not going anywhere at 94/5.

Dinesh Karthik (25 off 24) tried his best to improve the scoring rate.

Russell smashed a straight six off Morris off the fifth ball he faced but that remained his only big hit of the night.

Morris removed both Russell and Karthik in the same over which allowed Royals to limit KKR to under 140.

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