Ice-cool Rinku Singh delivers first win for KKR

Kolkata Knight Riders finally broke their drought seven games into their IPL 2026 campaign, recording a 4-wicket win over Rajasthan Royals at Eden Gardens. The win moved them to ninth on the points table.

Brief Scores: Rajasthan Royals 155/9 in 20 overs (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 46; Varun Chakaravarthy 3-14, Kartik Tyagi 3-22, Sunil Narine 2-26) lost to Kolkata Knight Riders 161/6 in 19.4 overs (Rinku Singh 53*, Anukul Roy 29*; Ravindra Jadeja 2-8) by 4 wickets.

Rinku Singh was on 8 off 8 deliveries when he skied a Ravindra Jadeja delivery in the 11th over. Nandre Burger dropped the chance at short third, a costly mistake. With spinners applying pressure, KKR needed 59 off the last 5 overs chasing 156.

Rinku took charge, slog-sweeping Ravi Bishnoi for six before hitting boundaries off Jofra Archer. Anukul Roy provided support. Needing nine off the final over, Rinku smashed two fours off Brijesh Sharma to level the scores, then hooked a short ball for four to reach his fifty and seal KKR's first win.

How RR were restricted to 155

At 95/1 at the halfway mark, RR looked set for 180+. However, on a turning deck, Varun Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine spun a web in the middle overs. Chakaravarthy dismissed set batter Vaibhav Sooryavanshi (46) and then beat Dhruv Jurel with a ball that turned sharply, resulting in a stumping. Narine had Yashasvi Jaiswal caught at cover, triggering a slowdown where RR went 28 deliveries without a boundary.

Chakaravarthy castled Riyan Parag, and Narine wrapped up his spell with Donovan Ferreira's wicket. The spinners combined for figures of 5/40 from eight overs, from which RR never recovered.

Powerplay start and collapse

Openers Sooryavanshi and Jaiswal started cautiously but accelerated in the final Powerplay over, taking 22 runs off Cameron Green. Sooryavanshi raced to 24 off 12 with authentic shots. He continued to respect good bowling, unfazed even when beaten by Narine. His innings of 46 was more determined than explosive, but his dismissal began the collapse.

RR bowlers set up a thriller

Jofra Archer cleaned up Tim Seifert first ball. Ajinkya Rahane fell for a second consecutive duck, edging behind. Cameron Green counter-attacked but was brilliantly stumped by Dhruv Jurel off Ravi Bishnoi. Ravindra Jadeja took two wickets, and Impact Substitute Yash Raj Punja was effective with 1-25.

KKR were tied down by spin, and had Burger held Rinku's catch, the result might have differed. Instead, KKR found a win, handing RR their second straight defeat.

Up Next

Both teams head to Lucknow. RR face Lucknow Super Giants on Wednesday, April 22. KKR play them after a week's break on Sunday, April 26.