Kolkata Knight Riders slumped to their seventh defeat of the Indian Premier League season as Rajasthan Royals staged a late comeback on Thursday to do win by three wickets.
Despite Dinesh Karthik smashing an unbeaten 97 in a losing cause, it was 17-year-old Riyan Parag who was the talk of the town.
The teenager smashed 47 off 31 balls before being out hit wicket in the penultimate over. Archer then completed the chase with a four and a six in the final over.
Read - ‘Composed’ Riyan Parag raises hopes in bleak season for Rajasthan Royals
Rajasthan were in a precarious position at 98-5 and 123-6 when Parag and Archer put on a crucial 44-run stand for the seventh-wicket to revive the chase. Despite losing partners at the other end, Parag took his time at the crease before deciding to switch gears.
Having scored 20 runs off the first 19 balls he faced, Parag began a late onslaught on the opposition pacers with Rajasthan needing 54 runs to win from the last five overs.
Although Parag lost his wicket in bizarre fashion towards the end, Twitterati lauded the youngster for a cool-headed innings under pressure.
Rajasthan are lying seventh in the eight-team table with just four wins off 11 matches so far but skipper Steve Smith lauded the contributions of Parag and Archer in the win against Kolkata.
“Riyan Parag, isn’t he an impressive young man? And some great contributions from Archer and [Shreyas] Gopal too,” said Smith, who will return home next week to be with Australia ahead of the World Cup.
(with AFP inputs)
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