Mumbai, May 16 : Chris Morris took 4/23 as Rajasthan Royals defeated defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders by 9 runs at the Brabourne Stadium in Mumbai on Saturday to seal a playoff berth.
The Kolkata run chase got off to a bad start as captain Gautam Gambhir (1) fell on the last ball of the first over as he was caught off-guard by a Morris bouncer and his leading edge was caught by Stuart Binny at mid-wicket.
Robin Uthappa (14) hit a couple of cracking boundaries before he mistimed a Dhawal Kulkarni delivery into the hands of Rajasthan captain Steven Smith at mid-off.
Manish Pandey hit a run-a-ball 21 before hitting a Kulkarni delivery to the covers for Morris to take the catch.
Kolkata were 77/3 in 8.1 overs when Andre Russell joined Yusuf Pathan at the crease and the big-hitting West Indian smashed two sixes and four fours in his 20-ball 37 before Morris had him caught by Kulkarni at long-off as the defending champions slipped to 132/4 in 13.2 overs.
Couple of balls later, Morris bowled a peach of a delivery to dismiss Suryakumar Yadav having him caught behind by Sanju Samson for a first ball duck.
Pathan hit a six and five fours in his 35-ball 44 before Shane Watson had him caught by Kulkarni at long-off.
Ajinkya Rahane then took a well-judged skier at long-on to dismiss Azhar Mahmood (6) off James Faulkner to place Kolkata at 156/7 in 16.4 overs.
Watson then struck again when he had Piyush Chawla caught by Binny at backward point for a first ball duck.
Umesh Yadav smashed three fours and a six off the penultimate over by Faulkner to leave Kolkata to get 16 runs in the last over for victory.
But Morris had Shakib Al Hasan caught by captain Steven Smith at long-on on the first delivery of the last over to place the final nail in the Kolkata coffin as on a pitch that offered decent carry and a bit of movement off the seam, the South African hit good lengths and made the ball talk.
Follow our WhatsApp channel