IPL 2018, Eliminator, KKR vs RR: 5 talking points

#1 Royals bottles it at the death

Heinrich Klaasen struggled big time tonight scoring a run-a-ball 18 when his side needed much more

Royals looked well and truly on top when skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Rahul Tripathi gave the side a brilliant start in the powerplay overs.

The latter's dismissal brought Sanju Samson into the crease and he joined Rahane in building a solid partnership for Royals with the knowledge that they were lacking in the batting department with the absence of Jos Buttler and Ben Stokes in their line-up.

But the duo was guilty of being too cautious in their approach as their 62-run partnership which took nine overs meant that the asking rate was a lot higher than what they would have desired when Rahane was dismissed right after the strategic timeout in the 15th over of the Royals innings.

That dismissal brought Heinrich Klaasen out into the middle but to state that the South African wicketkeeper-batsman struggled tonight would be an understatement.

He had a good outing in the crucial final league game against RCB no doubt, but tonight, he looked totally out of sorts and was helpless in getting the big shots that the situation demanded.

The Royals decision to send in Stuart Binny ahead of Krishnappa Gowtham was terrible, to say the least, and the team management has to take the blame for that terrible call. Not stating that Gowtham would have won it for Royals, but it would have no doubt made better sense considering his exploits with the bat this IPL.