Kolkata survive Parag's six-hitting blitz to clinch IPL thriller

KOLKATA, May 04 (AFP): Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders survived a batting blitz including six sixes in a row from Rajasthan Royals skipper Riyan Parag to win a high-scoring IPL thriller by one run on Sunday.

Chasing 207 for victory, Rajasthan slipped to 71-5 in the eighth over when Parag hit 95 off 45 balls and hit six sixes in six successive legal balls -- a first in IPL -- across two overs at Kolkata's Eden Gardens.

The 23-year-old's blitz, which included a wide in between the fourth and fifth six, began with him smacking England spinner Moeen Ali for five sixes in an over. Then, after his partner Shimron Hetmyer took a single, he hit one over the fence off Varun Chakravarthy.

Parag joined an elite list of batters to have hit five sixes in an over in the IPL after Chris Gayle (2012), Rahul Tewatia (2020), Ravindra Jadeja (2021) and Rinku Singh (2023) achieved the feat in earlier editions.

Parag, who is leading the team in the absence of regular skipper Sanju Samson, added 92 with Hetmyer but after their departures Rajasthan finished on 205-8 after a tense last over. Needing 22 to win in the final over, impact substitute Shubham Dubey, a left-hand batter, hit two sixes and a four off Vaibhav Arora who defended three on the final ball with a run out of Jofra Archer as KKR celebrated. Kolkata remain in the hunt for the play-offs with their fifth victory in 11 matches.