#TATAIPL-2026-28 : Kolkata Knight Riders Overcome Batting Collapse To Win First Match Beat Rajasthan Royals By 4-Wickets

Picture Credit : @IPL/X

Three- time champions Kolkata Knight Riders finally won their first match of Tata IPL 2026 as they beat Rajasthan Royals By 4 wickets on a  hot day at Eden Gardens, Kolkata . Earlier RR Skipper Riyan Parag won the toss and opted to bat first

RR Openers – Yashasvi Jaiswal and 15-year old  Vaibhav Sooryavanshi after a  watchful start opened up  and the duo took the total to 81-1, 8.4 overs. Jaiswal 39 ( 29 balls , 4 fours, 2 sixes),  Sooryavanshi unl;ucky to miss out a fifty out for 46 ( 28 balls, 6 fours, 2 sixes).  Setting the stage for a big total.

But RR batting collapsed soon after with regular wickets and tight bowling by KKR spin duo – Varun Chakaravarthy , Sunil Narine . Dhruv Jurel 5, Skipper Riyan Parag in poor form 12 , Shimron Hetmyer 15,  Donovan Ferreira , Ravindra Jadeja 9 , Jofra Archer 8 run-out, Ravi Bishnoi 0 , Brijesh Sharma  not out 1 . KKR bowlers restricted  RR to a modest 155/9 in their 20 overs.

KKR Bowling :  Vaibhav Arora 0/37 ( 4 overs), Kartik Tyagi 3/22 ( 4 overs), Cameron Green 0/27 ( 2 overs), Sunil Narine 2/26 ( 4 overs), Varun Chakaravarthy 3/14 ( 4 overs), Ramandeep Singh 0/26 ( 2 overs)

Chasing 156, KKR nearly made aheavy weather of the chase . It got off to a disastrous start losing openers – Tim Seifert 0, Skipper Ajinkya Rahane 0 ( second consucutive duck), Angkrish Raghuvanshi fell for 10. Cameron Green tried to battle it out with 27 ( 13 balls , 4 fours , 1 six) he looked good but did not last long.  Rovman Powell 23 ( 20  balls , 2 fours , 1 six), Ramandeep Singh was out for  10 . KKR were reeling at 85-6, 13.3 overs .

KKR victory  hopes rested on  struggling Rinku Singh and Anukol Roy . And the duo did not disappoint the large home crowd putting on a superb match – winning partnership . Battling poor form  Rinku Singh finally came good with an unbeaten 53 ( 34 balls, 5 fours 2 sixes) and well supported by Anukol Roy not out 29 ( 16 balls, 1 four, 2 sixes)  as KKr managed to romp home by two balls to spare in a thriller reaching 161/16 in 19. 4 overs. The win saw the KKR dug-out heave a huge sigh of relief .

RR Bowling :  Jofra Archer 1/35 ( 4 overs), Nandre Burger 1/20 ( 2 overs), Ravi Bishnoi 1/41 ( 4 overs), Yashasvi Jaiswal 1/25 ( 4 overs), Ravindra Jadeja 2/8 ( 3 overs), Riyan Parag 0/10 ( 1 over), 0/21 ( 1.4 overs)

Match: IPL 2026, 28th Match
Venue: Kolkata | Date: April 19, 2026