Rajasthan Royals suffered their second defeat of the IPL 2026 campaign after losing to Kolkata Knight Riders by four wickets at the Eden Gardens on Wednesday.
The Royals failed to capitalise on Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Yashasvi Jaiswal’s early fireworks and could only manage 155/9 in 20 overs.
A disciplined bowling display by the inaugural champions saw the match extend right till the final over but Rinku Singh’s fifty eventually handed the win to the hosts.
Despite the loss, the Royals stay third on the IPL 2026 points table with eight points from six games.
After captain Riyan Parag won the toss and elected to bat first, the Royals’ openers made a somewhat watchful start before Vaibhav Sooryavanshi stepped on the gas in the fifth over and hit Sunil Narine for the first six of the innings.
The teenage prodigy, who made his storied IPL debut against Lucknow Super Giants exactly one year back, took up the role of the aggressor as the Royals piled up 63 in the powerplay.
Scoring freely, Sooryavanshi looked set for his third fifty of the season but ended up four short as he was caught by Ramandeep Singh while trying to clear deep midwicket off Varun Chakravarthy.
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Sooryavanhi’s wicket triggered a mini collapse with Varun Chakravarthy dismissing Dhruv Jurel and skipper Parag cheaply.
Jaiswal, who was looking in good touch on 39, and Donovan Ferreira, who scored a fifty against Sunrisers in the last match, both fell to Sunil Narine as the Royals suddenly slumped to 124/5 from 81/0.
Shimron Hetmyer and Ravindra Jadeja tried to steady the ship as the West Indian reached his 1000-run milestone for RR in the IPL. However, wickets kept tumbling right until the end as the Royals’ innings wrapped up for 155/9 in the allotted 20 overs.
Varun Chakravarthy was the pick of the KKR bowlers with figures of 3/14. Kartik Tyagi picked up three wickets in the penultimate over to finish with 3/22 - his best figures in the IPL.
Defending a modest total, Jofra Archer rocked the hosts early as he disturbed Tim Seifert’s stumps off the very first ball of the first over.
This marked the third consecutive match this season in which Jofra Archer struck with the very first ball of the innings. In doing so, he also drew level with Mohammed Shami for the record of most first-ball wickets in an innings in the IPL.
Nandre Burger followed up by removing KKR skipper Ajinkya Rahane from the board in the next over.
Cameron Green and Angkrish Raghuvanshin looked to counterattack with the former getting some hefty blows in. However, a sensational stumping by Dhruv Jurel saw Green depart as Ravi Bishnoi picked up his 10th wicket of the season.
Jadeja then trapped Raghuvanshi LBW to reduce KKR to 52/4. The veteran all-rounder was also responsible for sending back Rovman Powell following a defiant 20-ball 23.
Yash Raj Punja, 19, picked up Ramandeep Singh on his debut to reduce KKR to 85/6. The youngster had an impressive outing, finishing with 1/25 in his four overs.
Despite the good work, though, it was eventually KKR who got over the finish line.
Rinku Singh played a mature knock of 53 not out from 34 balls and along with Anukul Roy, who chipped in with an unbeaten 16-ball 29, guided the Knights to their first win of the season.
Rajasthan Royals will face Lucknow Super Giants in their next IPL 2026 match at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.
Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals, IPL 2026, brief scores: RR 155/9 in 20 overs (Vaibhav Sooryavanshi 46, Yashasvi Jaiswal 39; Varun Chakravarthy 3/14) lost to KKR 161/6 in 19.4 overs (Rinku Singh 53 not out; Ravindra Jadeja 2/8) by four wickets.
