Tom Curran's innings at the end did reduce the margin of defeat as Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) won by 37 runs against Rajasthan Royals (RR).
It was the first time Rajasthan got out of Sharjah and they got hammered. RR's middle-order stood exposed after failures from the top three.
One could say the downfall started after Steve Smith had won the toss and elected to field first. Keeping a reference to previous matches, the teams who batted first in Dubai had won the match.
However, put the bat fist, KKR's youngun Shubman Gill made sure to get the side to a good start. He posted 47 runs off 34 balls and was helped a little by Sunil Narine (15) and Nitish Rana (22).
With the departure of the top order, it was Andre Russell who went big as he scored 24 off 14. Skipper Dinesh Karthik could not contribute as he was sent back with just a run.
It was Eoin Morgan who handled it for KKR with his 34 off 23 and a cameo by Pat Cummins who scored 12 off 10.
Despite the tight bowling lead by pacer Jofra Archer (2) and the rest - Jaydev Unadkat, Ankit Rajpoot, Curran and Rahul Tewatia - taking a wicket each, KKR posted 174 on the board.
Now coming in to chase, RR saw the worst start of their innings as Steve Smith and Sanju Samson departed early after scoring 3 and 8 respectively.
Robin Uthappa (2) and Riyan Parag (1) too could not help Jos Buttler (21) who was trying to stabilize the innings for RR.
After Buttler's departure, it was just downfall for RR as KKR's young bowlers Shivam Mavi and Kamlesh Nagarkoti took two wickets each. Pat Cummins had lead from the front taking the crucial wicket of Smith.
As for RR, it was only Curran who top-scored for them with 54 off 36 balls. Rahul Tewatia (14) did help a little but the damage was already done.
