Kolkata: Yashasvi Jaiswal continued his sensational run in the IPL by smashing the fastest fifty in tournament history as Rajasthan Royals (RR) cruised to a nine-wicket win over Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to boost their playoffs hopes here on Thursday.
Records tumbled at the Eden Gardens as Yuzvendra Chahal became IPL's leading wicket-taker before completing a brilliant 4/25 to restrict KKR to a below-par 149/8.
On a day KKR batters struggled to time the ball, 21-year-old Jaiswal showed the way by bringing up fastest fifty in the history of IPL in just 13 balls, bettering the previous record held by KL Rahul and Pat Cummins (14 balls each).
Jaiswal remained two runs shy of a century (98 not out from 47 balls), a knock studded with 12 fours and five sixes, as RR cantered to victory 13.1 overs.
Sanju Samson gave fine support to the southpaw with a 48 not out from 29 balls as the duo shared an unbroken match-winning partnership of 121 runs off just 69 balls.
The win with 41 balls to spare also took them to third spot (12 points from 12 matches), giving a massive boost to their net run-rate (0.0633) as the playoffs race heats up.
It is all but over for KKR who slipped to seventh place (10 points, 12 matches).
Jaiswal made his intention clear in the first over itself when KKR skipper Nitish Rana made a bold move to bowl himself.
Wasting no time, Jaiswal seized on the opportunity and smashed Rana for two sixes and three fours in a 26-run over.
He hit Shardul Thakur with a hat-trick of fours to race to his fifty in the third over itself as RR virtually sealed the issue scoring 78/1 inside Powerplay.
To pile on the KKR misery, Sunil Narine dropped an easy catch when Sanju was on 16.
The skipper then came on his own when he smoked Jharkhand left-arm spinner Anukul Roy for three sixes in a 20-run over.
On a day RR dished out an eye-grabbing fielding display, Chahal (187 wickets) eclipsed Dwayne Bravo (183) to become the all-time leading wicket-taker of the IPL when he struck off his second ball to dismiss Rana (22; 17b) in the 11th over.
Chahal's breakthrough came just when KKR looked to step up after a pathetic start when two astonishing catches of Shimron Hetmyer and Sandeep Sharma set the tone.
Both came in Trent Boult's successive overs as the Kiwi left-arm pacer returned 2/15 from his three overs on his return.
After an expensive second over when he leaked 15 runs, Chahal came back in the death overs and dismissed Venkatesh Iyer (57; 42b) and Thakur (1) in four balls.
He ended his spell dismissing the the latest KKR sensation Rinku Singh (16) in the penultimate over to also become the leading wicket-taker this season (21).
