Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) vs Rajasthan Royals (RR) IPL 2021 Live Updates from Sharjah

IPL 2021, KKR vs RR Live: Hello and welcome to the live coverage of IPL 2021 Match 54, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) against Rajasthan Royals (RR) from Sharjah Cricket Stadium in UAE on Thursday.

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will look to seal the play-off berth when they square off against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in the evening game of Thursday's doubleheader in Sharjah. A win against the Royals will assure the purple-clad outfit a top-four finish. If both KKR and MI win their last matches, then it will boil down to net run rate and that's where the Eoin Morgan-led side (0.294) would have an edge over Mumbai (-0.048).

LIVE UPDATES

22.57 IST: Mumbai have to win by around 171 runs after scoring 200 to get past Kolkata's NRR.

22.52 IST: Kolkata beat Rajasthan by 86 runs, inch closer to the playoffs berth

Mavi picked four while Ferguson added to his name as Kolkata beat Rajasthan by 84 runs in Sharjah. With the comprehensive win, the Kolkata side has consolidated its position on the fourth spot with 14 points. 

22.29 IST: It's raining wickets in Sharjah. Unadkat tries to send one towards the leg-side but picks out Shakib at deep cover. Rajasthan 66/8 after 12 overs. Kolkata are just two wickets away from virtually securing the playoffs berth.

22.21 IST: Punjab have officially been eliminated from the race to the play-offs

22.05 IST: OUT! Mavi into the attack and he takes two in one over. Castles Phillips on the third delivery and then plucks Dube. Rajasthan in trouble, having lost six wickets in 172 chase. Rajasthan 34/6 after 8 overs. 

21.50 IST: Ferguson strikes twice in the same over. First removes Livingstone and then traps Rawat for a duck to put Rajasthan on the backfoot. Phillips and Dube are at the crease. Rajasthan 13/4 after 4 overs. 

21.40 IST: OUT! Two major blows for Rajasthan in the Powerplay. Shakib cleans up Jaiswal and Mavi plucks Samson's wicket. Not the start Rajasthan wanted. Dube joins Livingstone as Rajasthan look to recover from a shaky start. Rajasthan 12/2 after 3 overs. 

21.15 IST: Shubman Gill's fifty and Venkatesh Iyer's composed 38 at the start have helped Kolkata reach 171/4 in 20 overs against Rajasthan. Both the openers provided Kolkata with a steady start before the side lost started to lose wickets at regular intervals.

Tripathi (21), Karthik (14 not out), and Morgan (13 not out) added some runs towards the end to help Kolkata cross the 170-run mark. On the bowling front, Morris, Sakariya, Tewatia, and Phillips picked a wicket each. 

21.02 IST: OUT! Slower delivery does the trick for Sakariya as castles Tripathi for 21. Skipper Morgan joins Karthik for the last three overs of the innings. 

20.55 IST: OUT! Morris picks up his first wicket of the UAE leg as he dismisses a set Gill. The Kolkata batter was in search for a boundary when he picked out Jaiswal at the cover. 

20.48 IST: Gill reaches ninth IPL fifty with a four off Sakariya. Gill has set the tone and it'll be interesting to see if Kolkata batting attack fires in the end. Five more overs to go. Kolkata 127/2 after 15 overs.  

20.44 IST: Consecutive boundaries for Tripathi. He powers it down the ground and follows it up with a four towards deep cover. Kolkata 119/2 after 14 overs.  

20.30 IST: OUT! Rana slices Phillips' delivery down to Livingstone at long-off as Kolkata lose their second wicket. Tripathi joins Gill as Kolkata look to add crucial runs towards the end. Kolkata 97/2 after 12 overs. 

20.24 IST: OUT! Iyer attempts a reverse sweep but Tewatia bowls him through the legs. Rajasthan finally get the breakthrough. Iyer departs for 38. Rana joins Gill in the middle. Kolkata 80/1 after 11 overs. 

20.17 IST: Another six for Iyer. He whacks it straight down the ground. Also, Unadkat seems to have hurt his ankle in his followthrough. Kolkata 69/0 after 10 overs. 

20.13 IST: Unadkat back into the attack and Iyer welcomes him with a maximum over long-on. The left-hander frees up his arms and picks up the length to smack his first six of the night. Kolkata 61/0 after 9.1 overs. 

19.54 IST: Kolkata 36/0 after 6 overs. A good powerplay for the Royals as they have controlled the scoring rate. Either Iyer or Gill will have to look for some boundaries now.

19.45 IST: Both the openers have been quiet in the first four overs, perhaps because of the surface that isn't allowing them to fire early. Rajasthan bowlers have also been tidy with their length. Kolkata 20/4 after four overs. 

19.30 IST: Gill and Iyer start for Kolkata while Unadkat opens Rajasthan's bowling attack. The Samson-led side needs to chase down today's total in nine overs for MI to go over KKR on the points table. Kolkata 8/0 after 1 over.

19.00 IST: Rajasthan have won the toss and elected to bowl first in Sharjah. 

Sanju Samson -- We'll bowl first. With the past matches, it has been easier to bowl first on this wicket. I think there have been a lot of learnings in the last game. The bounce was varying and it was two-paced. We need to be smarter with our shots and we need to bowl good lines and lengths too. Four changes: Livingstone, Morris, Unadkat come in.

Eoin Morgan --  We put in a strong performance on a slowish wicket in Dubai, and we need to just put a good score here. Lockie Ferguson is fit and he comes back in for Tim Southee. When we have the kind of depth and Tim comes and performs, it helps, but Lockie with his pace will come good on this wicket.

Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Shubman Gill, Venkatesh Iyer, Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Eoin Morgan(c), Dinesh Karthik(w), Shakib Al Hasan, Sunil Narine, Lockie Ferguson, Shivam Mavi, Varun Chakravarthy

Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Liam Livingstone, Sanju Samson(w/c), Glenn Phillips, Anuj Rawat, Shivam Dube, Chris Morris, Rahul Tewatia, Jaydev Unadkat, Chetan Sakariya, Mustafizur Rahman

18.55 IST: "It has been a venue that has been very hard to defend on. Apart from Kohli who chose to bat, the rest of the captains have decided to chase. Expect more of the same," says Matthew Hayden on his pitch report. 

IPL 2021, KKR vs RR Preview: Two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders would strive for a handsome win over struggling Rajasthan Royals in their last round-robin game to stay ahead in the IPL play-offs race here on Thursday.

With 12 points from 13 matches, KKR are currently sitting at the fourth position in the pecking order, just ahead of defending champions Mumbai Indians on net run rate. MI too have 12 points from 13 games and still have a match to play against bottom-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad on Friday.

If both KKR and MI win their last matches, then it will boil down to net run rate and that's where the Eoin Morgan-led side (0.294) would have an edge as it currently enjoys a positive run rate compared to the Mumbai outfit (-0.048). [FULL PREVIEW]