IPL 2021: KKR post the highest total of season at Sharjah as RR need 172 runs to win

Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) batters gave their side every chance to seal the remaining spot in the playoffs as they posted the highest total of the season in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at Sharjah after being put in to bat first by the Rajasthan Royals (RR) skipper Sanju Samson.

Openers Shubman Gill and Venkatesh Iyer stitched a 79-run stand after which, the middle-order featuring Rahul Tripathi, Nitish Rana, Dinesh Karthik and Eoin Morgan all played their part and contributed as they had a fantastic platform to launch from amassing 171 runs in the first innings.

The pitch was better than the last few games at the same ground but the ball was keeping low and the batter had to assess what a good score was before going for their shots and both Gill and Iyer executed the plan to perfection.

They didn't go crash bang in the first six overs, instead played to the merit of the ball understanding the pace of the pitch and once they were set they started going for their shots. They brought up the fifty partnership and now were close to a score of 80 by the 11th over.

Shubman Gill brought up his second half-century of this season and the middle-order cashed in on the foundation as every incoming batter could hit from the start. The likes of Nitish Rana and Rahul Tripathi benefited from the openers' contribution as they were allowed to playat a strike rate of 250 and 140 respectively after which Dinesh Karthik and Eoin Morgan with one hit each ensured KKR got an over par total of beyond 170.