Rajasthan Royals dished out an all-round performance to defeat Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 34 runs and register their first win in the third edition of the Indian Premier League in Ahmedabad on Saturday .
Battered and bruised in the last three matches, Rajasthan Royals were in desperate need of a win and Shane Warne's men didn't disappoint as they first posted a competitive target of 169 and then restricted Kolkata Knight Riders to 134 for five at the Sardar Patel stadium at Motera here.
Chasing 169 to win, KKR started rather slowly as they scored at nearly six runs per over and once they lost opener Manoj Tiwary in the third over bowled by Yusuf Pathan things further slowed down.
Cheteshwar Pujara and opener Brad Hodge tried to keep the scoreboard ticking and put up a brilliant 50-run partnership for the second wicket before the former's innings was cut shot by Siddharth Trivedi.
Pujara's inside edge off Trivedi hit the middle stump as the Knight Riders were reduced to 68 for two in the 11th over.
Skipper Sourav Ganguly then joined Hodge and they added 27 runs before Hodge was bowled by Pathan in the 15th over.
With the required run-rate rising every moment, Ganguly and newman Owais Shah threw there bat at everything but without much success as the match slipped through their fingers. PTI
