KKR Ride Rinku Singh Fireworks To Beat Rajasthan Royals; Claim First Win Of IPL 2026

Kolkata: Kolkata Knight Riders edged past Rajasthan Royals by four wickets to register their first victory of IPL 2026 at the Eden Gardens on Sunday evening. The Rajasthan Royals won the toss and elected to bat first. Powered by a knock of 46 runs from Vaibhav, Rajasthan set a target of 156 runs for KKR—a target that KKR successfully chased down in the final over.

How did Rinku Singh perform?

Batting in response to the target of 156 runs, KKR got off to a disastrous start. Both of the team's openers, Tim Seifert and Ajinkya Rahane, failed to even open their accounts. Subsequently, Cameron Green attempted to stabilize the innings with a contribution of 27 runs, but he was dismissed via a stumping. The team then pinned high hopes on Angkrish Raghuvanshi; however, he too was dismissed after scoring just 10 runs.

Following this, Powell also failed to make a significant impact and was dismissed after scoring 23 runs. However, Rinku Singh and Anukul Roy then took charge of the innings. The duo forged a half-century partnership between them. Rinku Singh played an unbeaten knock of 53 runs off 34 balls, while Anukul scored an unbeaten 29 runs off 16 balls. During his innings, Rinku smashed 5 fours and 2 sixes. This victory marks KKR's first win of the current IPL season. With this win, KKR has climbed to the 9th spot on the points table, while the Mumbai team has now dropped to the bottom rung.

How Did Rajasthan Royals Batters Perform?

Having won the toss and elected to bat first, Rajasthan's innings was opened by Vaibhav Suryavanshi and Yashasvi Jaiswal. The pair got off to a steady start. By the sixth over, they had propelled the team's score past the 50-run mark. Rajasthan suffered their first setback in the 9th over when Vaibhav Suryavanshi lost his wicket. Varun ensnared Vaibhav with his spin, and Vaibhav was dismissed after scoring 46 runs off 28 balls. Vaibhav struck 6 fours and 2 sixes.

Subsequently, Yashasvi Jaiswal also lost his wicket in the 11th over. Meanwhile, Dhruv Jurel was also dismissed cheaply; Jurel managed to score only 5 runs. The Rajasthan team could only post a total of 155 runs for the loss of 9 wickets. Varun Chakravarthy claimed 3 wickets.

What were the Playing XIs?

Rajasthan Royals: Vaibhav Suryavanshi, Yashasvi Jaiswal, Dhruv Jurel (Wicketkeeper), Riyan Parag, Shimron Hetmyer, Donovan Ferreira, Ravindra Jadeja, Jofra Archer, Nandre Burger, Brijesh Sharma, Ravi Bishnoi.

Kolkata Knight Riders: Ajinkya Rahane, Tim Seifert, Cameron Green, Rovman Powell, Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Ramandeep Singh, Anukul Roy, Vaibhav Arora, Kartik Tyagi, Varun Chakravarthy.