In IPL 2025 Match 53, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) had a nail-biting victory by just 1 run against Rajasthan Royals (RR) in a thrilling tight finish, mastering a formidable total of 206/4. Despite a brave chase, RR fell just short at 205/8. KKR exhibited better batting composure, finishing well under pressure, and consistent clutch bowling helped hold RR just out of reach. 

Riyan Parag (95 off 45) bounded the chase for RR, putting in a valuable performance to suggest we could turn RR's target into a chase victory, but fell short at the end. During the 16th and 17th overs, RR had lacked puncture power and could not get the win-rate shot runs required of them. Parag, he himself admitted, had miscalculated the calculations in terms of finishing the chase, which cost his team; quickly going from high dot-balls to low runs per ball, RR had shot out of the blocks and got into trouble several times mid-chase, which remained their underlying issue today.

KKR’s have a near constant mix of scalp found here by bowling unit; especially Varun Chakaravarthy (2/32) and Harshit Rana (2/41) were consistently testing his limits at the death (overs). KKR earlier in their innings featured clutch Andre Russell, who was 57 not out from 25 balls, where he provided victory for the KKR team. Angkrish Raghuvanshi, 44, shielded his partners well for the last half of KKR's innings, which provided a small lead on the target for team KKR; how to steal defeat from the jaws of victory repeatedly still baffles, and to top it off with incredible field rich, RR could buy a win.

Also Read: IPL 2025, Match 53: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals Full Match Highlights

1. Miscalculated Finish Despite Strong Platform

RR was reeling from having to chase down 207, and with Riyan Parag’s impressive 95 off 45 balls, RR looked to be in a good position at one stage. However, they failed to accelerate in the 16th and 17th overs. Parag later admitted that he paced things poorly, as RR was not able to accelerate the innings and build the momentum needed to chase a target of 207 despite having eight wickets in hand. The end of the RR innings was very tense and brought RR to a finish at 205/8.  

2. Ineffective Powerplay Bowling

Over the first six overs, RR were unable to create pressure with their bowling. They were unable to apply pressure to KKR’s lineup, and KKR was able to build a solid foundation through the power play with Angkrish Raghuvanshi (44 off 31) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (35 off 25). KKR was immediately able to take control and build through the middle, so RR did not apply enough pressure to stop KKR from posting 206/4 --a total that RR had no chance to chase down.  

Also Read: Riyan Parag’s dream tweet turns into reality after blazing knock vs KKR in IPL 2025

3. Poor Death Over Execution

RR's death bowling fell flat, particularly against Andre Russell, who played with a strike rate of 228 on 57* off 25, with the next 19 balls scoring 55 runs. Russell started the innings 2 off 9 balls. RR allowed Russell to take control of the innings -- as RR's missed yorkers and poor fielding allowed KKR to post a score that RR could not chase down at 207.