Rinku Singh's unbeaten 53 ends KKR's long wait as Knight Riders edge past Rajasthan at Eden Gardens
For the first time this season, the Eden Gardens erupted in purple and gold on Sunday evening. Kolkata Knight Riders finally opened their IPL 2026 account, beating Rajasthan Royals by four wickets with two balls to spare in the 28th match of the tournament, and they did it in the kind of nail-chewing fashion that tells you everything about where this team has been.
Rinku Singh, the subject of so much scrutiny in recent weeks, finished unbeaten on 53. Ajinkya Rahane’s side needed him to finish one. He did.
Sooryavanshi and Jaiswal set the stage, then RR let it slip
Riyan Parag won the toss and had no hesitation in batting first under the Kolkata lights. For a while it looked like the right call. Vaibhav Sooryavanshi and Yashasvi Jaiswal put on 81 inside 8.4 overs, a partnership that carried the usual fluency of two left-handers in full flow. Sooryavanshi made 46 off 28 with six fours and two sixes, Jaiswal 39 off 29 with four fours and two sixes, and Rajasthan looked on course for something north of 180.
What actually happened was a middle-overs suffocation. Varun Chakaravarthy trapped Sooryavanshi to a catch and then had Dhruv Jurel stumped. Sunil Narine had Jaiswal caught by Rahane. Between them Chakaravarthy and Narine went through eight overs for 40 runs and five wickets, a return that gives you a very clear idea of how pitched the conditions were in their favour once the ball started to grip.
The finish was all Kartik Tyagi. Rajasthan were eyeing a push for 170-plus when Tyagi took three wickets in the final over to drag them back to 155 for 9. It felt like a decent recovery for KKR at the innings break. It felt a lot better two hours later.
Varun’s 200th T20 wicket arrives at just the right time
Chakaravarthy had already crossed a personal milestone in the middle of his three-wicket spell. The India spinner picked up his 200th wicket in T20 cricket in this match, becoming the 20th Indian bowler to reach that mark and the 10th Indian spinner. On a night when KKR needed everything to go right, their most reliable match-shaper delivered.
Green flashes, then Rinku steadies
The chase was never going to be simple. Jofra Archer got rid of Tim Seifert off the first ball of the innings, and the Knight Riders’ top order has spent most of this season flinching at the first sign of pressure. Cameron Green tried to take the game on with 27 off 13, four fours and a six, before being stumped by Jurel against the spin.
When KKR crawled to 128 for 6 after 17 overs, the seats at Eden Gardens had that old familiar shape to them again. Another one slipping away. Another night of what-ifs. Instead, Rinku and Anukul Roy put on 76 in 37 balls, the sort of partnership that has been missing from this side for months. Roy’s 29 was the best supporting act Rinku could have asked for, and when Rinku eventually sealed it with a six off Brijesh Sharma, his roar carried all the weight of a season’s worth of frustration.
What changes now
One win does not rebuild a season. KKR have still been the disappointment of IPL 2026 to date, and the questions around Rahane’s captaincy and Rinku’s role in the middle order are not going to vanish on the back of a single finish. But for a team that looked out of its depth three days ago in Ahmedabad, this was a different KKR: sharper in the field, smarter with the ball, and finally clutch at the end. The Eden Gardens crowd did not stop singing until long after Rinku had left the pitch.
Rajasthan will kick themselves. 170-plus was there, and they settled for 155. On this ground, against these spinners, that was always going to be a conversation.
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