Chakravarthy three-for and Rinku fifty hand KKR their first win of IPL 2026 over Rajasthan
Kolkata Knight Riders finally have something to show for a miserable start to IPL 2026. Varun Chakravarthy produced figures of 3 for 14 on a slow Eden Gardens surface, Rajasthan Royals were held to 155 for 9, and Rinku Singh guided the chase home with an unbeaten 53 off 34 balls as KKR won by four wickets with two balls to spare.
This was their first win of the season after six straight defeats. It was also the kind of night where every little thing seemed to fall the right way for a team that has been on the wrong end of almost everything in 2026.
Chakravarthy dictates the first innings
RR looked like they might run away with it early. Yashasvi Jaiswal and Vaibhav Sooryavanshi put on 81 for the first wicket, with Sooryavanshi racing to 46 off 28 balls, and Kolkata’s opening bowlers had no answer in the powerplay. Chakravarthy changed the night. He had his best IPL 2026 figures to date, four overs for 14 runs, three wickets, and a control over the middle overs that KKR have been missing all tournament.
Kartik Tyagi finished the job with the ball. The quick picked up three wickets of his own, including Ravindra Jadeja and Shimron Hetmyer in the 19th over, to stop RR from ever really accelerating. A partnership worth 81 for the first wicket gave way to 74 for 9 across the back half of the innings, and 155 on this pitch never felt enough.
Rinku holds the chase together
KKR still made hard work of it. Their top order managed starts without going on, and at one point the required rate crept above nine with the middle overs dragging. Rinku was dropped on 8 and made RR pay, pacing his innings through the gears before accelerating in the final five overs. Anukul Roy stayed with him to the finish, and the winning runs came with two balls to spare.
Chakravarthy was named Player of the Match. He pointed to the slow Kolkata pitch afterwards as a factor in his return to form, but this was as much about a reset of his own rhythm as it was conditions. KKR have been crying out for him to look like himself again.
Still a long way back
One win does not rescue a campaign that had become one of the more miserable title defences in recent memory, and KKR are still bottom of the table. What it does is give them a night that does not feel like another failure, and a surface on which they have a template that actually works. Ajinkya Rahane can now go to his next team meeting with something to build on rather than a clean slate of defeats.
For Rajasthan, this was a reminder that their batting is young enough to be rattled when the pitch slows down. Sooryavanshi and Jaiswal were the only top-order batters who made runs, and once they were separated the innings never recovered. Their next match is a chance to reset before the damage becomes structural.
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