Rajasthan royals
We were under pressure in this game says Dinesh Karthik
Kolkata, May 24 - Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper Dinesh Karthik said they were under pressure in the Eliminator against Rajasthan Royals but eventually came up trumps to win by 25 runs and make Qualifier 2 of the Indian Premier League (IPL) here on Wednesday.
After being reduced to 51/4, Karthik (52; 38b; 4x4 2x6) and Shubman Gill (28; 17b; 3x4 1x6) got together for a 55-run fifth wicket stand before Andre Russell smoked an unbeaten 25-ball 49 to help the purple brigade post 169/7 in 20 overs.
Chasing 170, Royals were 47/0 inside five overs and then Sanju Samson (50; 38b; 4x4, 2x6) and Ajinkya Rahane (46; 41b; 4x4, 1x6) set the platform for a victory before the pair were removed by Piyush Chawla (2/24) and Kuldeep Yadav (1/18) respectively.
Royals could never recover from there as their thin middle order got exposed badly. They could manage only 144/4 in 20 overs.
"I think winning four games on the row feels good. Especially this one as we were under the pump," Karthik said at the post-match presentation ceremony. KKR came into the game on the back of a three-game winning run.
"Credit to Shubman Gill. He absorbed all the pressure when he walked in. Before he got out, he played some lovely shots and eased the pressure off me.
"In these games, it is about the attitude and the belief about how much you have got. In these kind of crunch games, it is never about the par score; it's about how much pressure you can put on the other side," he added.
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