IPL 2020, KKR vs RR: Who won yesterday's match?

The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) served out a thumping defeat to the Rajasthan Royals (RR), beating them by 60 runs and knocking them down to the bottom of the IPL 2020 points table. The massive win has given KKR the best chance to qualify, though they fell short of guaranteeing their spot in the playoffs.

While RR started explosively in line with their goals of winning by a big margin, Pat Cummins and Shivam Mavi ran riot during the powerplay overs. After a season of woes for Cummins, he saved his best for KKR's most crucial match as he prised out as many as four of RR's top six batsmen to flip the game on its head.

The Royals had many candidates who could take them home even then - Jos Buttler, Rahul Tripathi, Jofra Archer - but one by one, all succumbed trying to go for the big shot, as they were compelled to do in a tall chase. Although Narine had a tough game, all of KKR's other bowlers pitched in with wickets to ensure RR were denied a chance back into the contest.

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Captain Morgan fires KKR to 191/7

Nitish Rana kept up his interesting string of ducks and big fifties going with a golden duck against RR, succumbing to Jofra Archer. KKR navigated the powerplay smartly, with Shubman Gill and Rahul Tripathi going after the other bowlers and showing some respect to the RR spearhead.

Unfortunately, neither Gill nor Tripathi could make use of the platform. A belligerent Andre Russell showed his worth in a cameo, but Morgan's clinical 68 off 35 stood out in powering KKR to a big score - covering up for ducks from Rana, Sunil Narine and Dinesh Karthik.

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IPL 2020, KKR vs RR: Who was the Man of the Match?

Pat Cummins showed his quality in a crucial game. [PC: iplt20.com]

A big contribution in a crunch game from Eoin Morgan helped KKR to 191, as he was the only batsman from either side to translate a high strike rate into a 50-plus score. However, with a small contribution with a bat, a catch to dismiss Jos Buttler and an incredible spell with the ball, not many had a bigger shout for the award than Pat Cummins.

Cummins had a decent season with the bat, but a worrying one with the ball. Though he kept the runs down, he found it hard to pick up early wickets - just 8 from the 13 games preceding this one.

None of it mattered as he roared back with 4 wickets within the powerplay, blowing the roof off of RR's chances in the game. Bowling pace and exploiting the seam movement on offer, Cummins tested some of the most high-quality players in the RR lineup, and gave his team the best chance of doing the improbable and cementing their path through. Thus, for a fine contribution all-round, Pat Cummins was the Man of the Match in yesterday's game.