IPL: Tom Curran fifty in vain as Rajasthan Royals lose to Kolkata Knight Riders by 37 runs

Tom Curran's 35-ball fifty proved in vain as Rajasthan Royals lost their unbeaten start to the IPL season with a heavy 37-run defeat to Kolkata Knight Riders.

Scorecard

Curran walked to the wicket with Rajasthan struggling on 42-5 in pursuit of Kolkata's 174-6 and although he struck three sixes - all off one Sunil Narine over - he could not prevent his franchise falling well short.

Jos Buttler (21 off 16) was the next highest run-scorer as Kolkata's Shivam Mavi (2-20), Kamlesh Nagarkoti (2-13) and Varun Chakravarthy (2-25) inflicted the bulk of the damage - Royals ending on 137-8.

Kolkata's total included an unbeaten 34 off 23 balls from Eoin Morgan, who followed up 47 from opener Shubman Gill to ensure Kolkata posted a challenging target despite a fine return of 2-18 from Jofra Archer, who conceded 11 runs off the final three balls of his four-over allocation.

Archer had registered figures of 1-26 and 0-46 in his two previous outings in the tournament but set the tone for his most threatening display so far by conceding just a single off the first over of the innings after Royals skipper Steve Smith had put Kolkata in.

Narine (15) enjoyed a life when he was dropped on nought in the third over at mid-on by Robin Uthappa off Jaydev Unadkat only to have his stumps rearranged in the seamer's next over.

At 66-1 off eight overs with Gill in bullish mood, Kolkata had a platform for a large score and Nitish Rana (22) looked to kick on after escaping a gloved chance through to Buttler only to hole out to long off.

Archer's return tilted the balance further back towards the Royals as he removed Gill caught and bowled off the leading edge as the opener looked to work around the corner.

England's paceman then produced a 91mph off-cutter to remove captain Dinesh Karthik for one - caught behind off a back-of-a-length delivery - the wicket bringing Morgan to the crease.

With Andre Russell (24 off 14) intent on shovelling sixes the stage seemed set for an avalanche of boundaries but the West Indian sliced to backward point and Morgan initially struggled to get compatriots Archer and Curran (1-37) away, before he was struck on the helmet as he attempted to pull a slower delivery from Ankit Rajpoot (1-39).

Cleared to continue, he cut the final ball of Archer's allocation for six but only just - the ball bursting Curran's hands as the fielder stretched to take a tough chance on the third-man rope.

It meant Archer's figures were less impressive than they might have been and so it was for Curran too, as his fourth over - the last of the innings - cost 16, including a Morgan six over mid-wicket.

Curran's sole victim, then, remained Pat Cummins who miscued a slower-ball bouncer and was well caught behind square by Sanju Samson, who smashed his head on the ground as he took a well-judged catch.

Buttler kick-started the Royals chase by launching Narine for a leg-side six only to see his opening partner Smith (three) depart in the following over courtesy of an inside edge behind off fellow Australian Cummins.

The Englishman picked up his second maximum with a neat flick off Cummins over fine leg but was cut off in his prime when he picked out short third man off Mavi, shortly after Samson had slapped the same bowler to mid-wicket.

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A score of 39-3 quickly became 42-5 as Uthappa whipped Nagarkoti's first ball to backwards square and Riyan Parag was well snaffled at backward point by Gill.

Any Royals hopes of Rahul Tewatia repeating his heroics in the thrilling win over Kings XI Punjab vanished when he lost his middle stump to Chakravarthy, leaving Curran to bat out with the tail.

The game appeared to be drifting towards an inevitable conclusion as Gopal gloved Narine behind attempting to reverse sweep and so it proved despite Archer blasting an 87m six off Chakravarthy.

When he tried to repeat the dose down the ground off Chakravarthy, Nagarkoti was on hand to take a superb diving catch on the run.

With 69 needed off the final two overs, Curran advanced to strike Narine for six and repeated the dose two more times to post an impressive half-century, but the game was already up.

Live coverage of the Dream11 Indian Premier League continues on Thursday with Kings XI vs Mumbai, live on Sky Sports Cricket from 2.50pm.