As it happened: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals, IPL 2022, Wankhede, Mumbai

A five-match losing streak for KKR has ended while RR have now lost two in a row. Rinku Singh is the hero for them. For so long he has been known as the substitute fielder who loves to field but this season has got him a three-match run in the XI already and he has not looked out of place at all. Here he shows great presence of mind and efficient ball-striking to score 42 in the 66-run fourth-win stand that carries them home. That to go with Anukul Roy with the ball, who also has for long been the specialist substitute fielder. We leave you with this teaser from our match report. Thanks for joining us.

"Nitish Rana and Rinku Singh offset an early wobble and ensured Kolkata Knight Riders chased down 153 to snap their five-match losing streak, on a slow, grippy Wankhede track. After Trent Boult and Prasidh Krishna had made early inroads for Rajasthan Royals, Rana and Rinku dismantled R Ashwin and Yuzvendra Chahal respectively to bring the target within Knight Riders’ reach.

Rana cracked Ashwin for 23 off 14 balls on Monday, taking his overall tally up to 99 off 52 balls without being dismissed by the spinner in the IPL. He first forged a 60-run third-wicket partnership with Shreyas Iyer (34) and then a livelier 66-run stand with Rinku to usher Knight Riders home.

Sanju Samson’s wretched luck with the toss continued – he has won only one out of ten tosses this IPL – but despite that Royals made a decent fist of their defence by dragging it deep. However, with 31 needed off 18 balls, Rinku whacked back-to-back fours off Chahal to effectively kill off the game. It was Rana who ultimately finished it off with an upper-cut six off Kuldeep Sen, with five balls to spare."

Rajasthan Royals have not been happy with some of the wide calls in the last two-three overs. Here are our experts talking about if they should be allowed to use their two reviews for these calls too.

R Ashwin is done with four overs for 33 runs. Shreyas Iyer didn't manage much damage against him, but Nitish Rana has scored 23 off 14 Ashwin deliveries. They need 46 from five overs now with Andre Russell still in the shed.

The umpire's hands have not even come down from his wide signal when Sanju Samson makes the T signal for a review. The replay shows the ball has gone of the glove as Iyer tries to pull this ball down the leg side. Just the fillip Rajasthan Royals need after a 60-run partnership between him and Nitish Rana. They are 92 for 3 in the 13th over.

Nothing escapes Shiva Jayaraman's rye, and he always has numbers to back his point up. Here he is on Shreyas Iyer's starts:

"It looks like Shreyas Iyer has made a conscious effort to start his innings positively this IPL. He has hit a boundary off his first-five balls in eight of the ten innings he’s played this season – that’s more often than any other batter has managed. His 12 boundaries off his first-five balls are also the highest by any batter in this season. It does seem a conscious effort to shake off those initial nerves considering that last season Iyer scored no boundaries off his first-five balls in eight innings. As a result he’s scored at 144 off the first five balls this season, his fastest in any season. His strike rate of 132.3 from the first-ten balls he faces in an innings this season is also his highest, by far, in any season."

Rajasthan Royals are right in it. Prasidh Krishna has responded to a ramped boundary with a mean bouncer, right at Baba Indrajith's head, and R Ashwin takes the top edge at fine leg. Interesting that they sent the fine leg back after that ramp and went ahead with the bouncer. It has left KKR at 32 for 2 in 5.4 overs. KKR 48% favourites to win now.

A third straight single-digit score for Aaron Finch as he plays on a short ball from Kuldeep Sen. He gores for the cut but doesn't have the width for that shot. He walks back shaking his head. He scored 58 off 28 the last time he faced this opposition. KKR are 21 for 1 in four overs. Our Forecaster has them as 54% favourites to win this.

Hetmyer's blazing cameo - 27* off 13 balls - has hauled Royals to 152 for 5, giving their bowlers something to work with on a fairly grippy Wankhede track. Since IPL 2021, Hetmyer has struck at nearly 208 in the death overs. Only Rahul, Suryakumar and de Villiers have a better strike rate than the West Indian during this phase (among batters who have faced at least 50 balls)

Southee backs up good last overs from Umesh and Narine with a seven-run 17th over, which also included the wicket of Parag for 19 off 12 balls. RR are 115 for 4 in 17 overs. Projected total for RR: 147.

Mavi then comes back and has Samson caught by Rinku first ball of the next over. The projected total has dropped to 146. Over to Hetmyer to apply the finishing touches

Roy has Nair holing out for a run-a-ball 13, but Samson, bad back and all, notches up a half-century off 38 balls. He is doing what Buttler did the last time these two teams met: treating Narine with respect and others with contempt. RR are 100 for 3 in 14 overs. ESPNcricinfo's Forecaster gives them a total of 160.

Buttler had laboured to 13 off 17 balls in the powerplay. Umesh tested both his inside and outside edges. Roy kept him quiet with stump-to-stump darts. He doesn't take on Narine. He searches for the release against Southee, but Mavi's athletic intervention at long-on sends back Buttler for 22 off 25 balls. Southee pitched it more or less in Buttler's slot as he shovelled it with the bottom wrist in the air. It might have been a six had Mavi not leapt to his right in time at the long-on boundary.

Mavi was picked for his favourable bowling match-up against the RR batters, but his first contribution of the evening is in the outfield. Karun Nair in at No.4.

He clutched his back when he tried to pinch a double in the eighth over. The physio John Gloster is out to tend to Samson at the end of the over. Samson is ready to resume on 27 off 21 balls.

At 12 for 1 in four overs, something had to give. That something was Samson and Buttler showing greater intent and picking up the pace for RR as Umesh concedes 15 in his third over. In the last over of the powerplay, Samson manufactures swinging room and launches Roy inside-out for six, pushing RR to 38 for 1 in six overs.

After testing both the inside and outside edge of Jos Buttler in his first over, Umesh has Paddikal spooning a return catch for 2 in his second. Nobody has more wickets than Umesh's 53 in the powerplays in the IPL.

In all, Samson has won only one out of ten tosses this IPL. That hasn't deterred them, though, as S Rajesh notes. Before today, they've won six out of eight matches when the toss has gone the other way.

KKR continue to rifle through their options. The other change is Shivam Mavi slotting back in for Harshit Rana. KKR have now used 20 players - the most in the league this season. Shreyas points out that Mavi has a good record against RR. Royals make a solitary change, bringing in Karun Nair in place of Daryl Mitchell.

KKR: 1 Aaron Finch, 2 Sunil Narine, 3 Shreyas Iyer(capt), 4 B Indrajith(wk), 5 Nitish Rana, 6 Andre Russell, 7 Rinku Singh, 8 Anukul Roy, 9 Umesh Yadav, 10 Tim Southee, 11 Shivam Mavi

RR: 1 Jos Buttler, 2 Devdutt Padikkal, 3 Sanju Samson(capt&wk), 4 Karun Nair, 5 Shimron Hetmyer, 6 Riyan Parag, 7 R Ashwin, 8 Trent Boult, 9 Prasidh Krishna, 10 Yuzvendra Chahal, 11 Kuldeep Sen

Anukul Roy, the 23-year-old left-arm fingerspinner, makes his IPL debut for Knight Riders. This is his second game overall in the IPL, having turned out for Mumbai as part of a spin-heavy attack at Chepauk in 2019. Roy has also been part of India U-19s in the past and his T20 economy rate of 7.09 is quite impressive. He can also hit big blows lower down the order, as his strike rate of 141.39 suggests. Roy is a gun fielder to boot. In his most recent match, in the pre-quarterfinal of the Ranji Trophy, Roy made 59 and 153 as Jharkhand piled on the runs and misery on Nagaland. Venkatesh Iyer's dismal run culminates in a drop. He will join the other retained player Varun Chakravarthy on the bench.