Kolkata Knight Riders got their first win of IPL 2026 after beating Rajasthan Royals by 4 wickets at Eden Gardens. After losing five matches, KKR chased 156 and finished the game in the final over.
KKR had a poor start in the chase. Tim Seifert got out on the first ball to Jofra Archer.
Ajinkya Rahane also got out for a duck. KKR were 5 for 2 and under pressure early. Cameron Green tried to build the innings and gave a decent start, but he was stumped by Dhruv Jurel at an important time.
The match changed with the partnership between Rinku Singh and Anukul Roy. KKR needed 69 runs in the last six overs, but both batters stayed calm and kept scoring.
Rinku Singh scored 53 off 34 balls, while Anukul Roy made 29 off 16 balls. Rinku played the main role, while Anukul supported him well. They finished the chase and took KKR to their first win.
Rajasthan Royals had a chance to stop Rinku early, but Nandre Burger dropped his catch when he was on 8 runs.
After that, Rinku did not give another chance and took the game away from RR. That dropped catch became the turning point.
Earlier, Rajasthan Royals got runs from Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Yashasvi Jaiswal at the top. But after that, no other batter contributed much.
They scored 155/9, which was not enough in the end. Varun Chakravarthy, S. Narine and Kartik Tyagi bowled well and picked up important wickets.
RR also made mistakes in the last overs. Their bowling changes did not work, and they did not use their main bowlers at the right time. This helped KKR in the chase.
KKR captain Ajinkya Rahane’s poor form continued as he got out for another duck. It was his second duck in this season. He now has the most ducks as an opener in IPL history, going past Parthiv Patel.
KKR finally got a win after a tough start to the season. Rinku Singh played a key role and finished the match. Rajasthan Royals lost the game due to a dropped chance and wrong decisions.
