Cummins and Morgan keep KKR alive and knock out Royals

Rajasthan Royals have missed out on the Indian Premier League play-offs, but Kolkata Knight Riders could still qualify.

 
 

Pat Cummins took four wickets after Eoin Morgan blasted a half-century as Kolkata Knight Riders kept their play-off hopes alive and ended Rajasthan Royals' Indian Premier League season with a 60-run victory.

Both sides needed an emphatic win in their last match of the regular season to stay in the hunt for a place in the last four and it was KKR who delivered.

Morgan's side are up to fourth and must now wait for the outcome of the clashes between Delhi Capitals and Royal Challengers Bangalore on Monday and Sunrisers Hyderabad and Mumbai Indians the following day to see if they qualify.

England ODI captain Morgan top scored with 68 not out off 35 balls to get the Knight Riders up to 191-7 at Dubai International Cricket Stadium.

Shubman Gill (36) and Rahul Tripathi (39) also chipped in, while Rahul Tewatia was the pick of the bowlers with 3-25 and Jofra Archer (1-19) was outstanding yet again.

The Royals could only muster 131-9 in reply, paceman Cummins doing the bulk of the damage with 4-34.

Defeat for Steve Smith's men leaves them bottom of the table despite a late resurgence, Shivam Mavi and Varun Chakravarthy taking two wickets apiece as they fell well short of their victory target.

MORGAN GIVES STOKES A TASTE OF HIS OWN MEDICINE

Gill and Tripathi put on 72 for the second wicket in eight overs after Archer had Nitish Rana caught behind for a golden duck in the first over.

Tewatia got rid of Gill and Sunil Narine in a ninth over that went for just six runs, but skipper Morgan flexed his muscles in dewy conditions and Andre Russell smashed 25 off 11 balls.

Ben Stokes had a day to forget, Morgan hitting his England team-mate for back-to-back sixes in a penultimate over that cost 24 runs, with the left-hander ? who cleared the rope six times ? also setting about Shreyas Gopal.

RAPID CUMMINS RATTLES ROYALS

The Royals needed their key men such as Stokes and Smith to fire, but their tournament was all-but over when they were 41-5 at the end of the powerplay.

Cummins steamed through the top order, removing Robin Uthappa, Stokes, Smith and Riyan Parag.

Jos Buttler made 35 and Tewatia 31 but Rajasthan were never going to recover from Australia paceman Cummins' devastating early hostile burst.