Jaipur, April 18 - Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) stretched their winning run to two games by registering a facile seven-wicket victory over Rajasthan Royals in an Indian Premier League (IPL) clash at the Sawai Mansingh Stadium here on Wednesday.
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\r\nAfter restricting RR to 160\/8, the two-time champions, who also won against Delhi Daredevils by 71 runs in their last game, rode on Robin Uthappa's 36-ball 48 (6x4, 2x6) to set up the chase and eventually win with seven balls to spare posting 163\/3 in 18.5 overs.
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\r\nSkipper Dinesh Karthik (42 not out; 2x4, 2x6) and Nitish Rana (35 not out; 2x4, 1x6) combined for an unbroken 61-run partnership for the fourth wicket to ease past the line. Karthik hit a six off Ben Laughlin to secure the win in style.
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\r\nKKR never looked in trouble despite losing out-of-form Australian opener Chris Lynn (0) in only the second ball of their innings, with off-spinner Krishnappa Gowtham (2\/23) flattening his stumps with a ball that spun sharply into the batsman who tried to cut.
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\r\nUthappa and Narine then came together for a 69-run stand for the first wicket. Uthappa looked in imperious form, hitting Jaydev Unadkat for three fours in the fifth over.
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\r\nNarine took time to get into the groove, smashing a six off Laughlin over deep midwicket using the depth of the crease to good effect.
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\r\nNarine was run out soon after the Powerplay in which the visitors had raced to 53\/1, while Uthappa fell two short of a half century, holing out to Ben Stokes who took a brilliant catch at the long-on boundary off Gowtham's bowling.
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\r\nEarlier, KKR bowlers picked up wickets at regular intervals to restrict RR to 160\/8 in 20 overs.
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\r\nNarine had an off day leaking 48 runs in four overs without taking a wicket but in-form Rana put his hand up to remove openers Ajinkya Rahane (36; 19b 5x4 1x6) and D'Arcy Short (44; 43b 5x4 1x6) while Tom Curran shaved off the lower order with two scalps in two deliveries.
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\r\nFor the hosts, Short was the top-scorer but never got going while explosive England wicketkeeper-batsman Jos Buttler helped them reach a fighting target with a 18-ball, 24 not out.
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\r\nIn the last over, young fast bowler Shivam Mavi (1\/40) bowled three wide balls and Chris Lynn dropped Dhawal Kulkarni (3) but he was later run out.
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\r\nThe visitors, choosing to field first after skipper Karthik won the toss, were given a good start by wrist spinners Piyush Chawla (1\/18) and Kuldeep Yadav (1\/23) who combined well to leak just nine runs in the first three overs.
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\r\nRahane then took on Narine, the most economical bowler in the IPL so far, hitting him for four back-to-back fours straight up. The India Test team vice-captain swept and drove the West Indian mystery spinner with aplomb to garner 18 runs off the over.<\/p>\r\n\r\n