Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders shared spoils after rain prevented play in their Tata Indian Premier League match at the ACA Stadium, Guwahati, on Sunday. The contest was abandoned without a single ball being delivered.
There was a brief stop in the deluge that allowed for a toss to be done. However, the rain returned shortly afterwards, putting to bed any hope of a shortened match.
The washout means that KKR retain their spot at the top of the table and the Royals finish in third place. They are level on points with second-placed Sunrisers Hyderabad but have an inferior net run rate. Sanju Samson and his teammates will now face the Royal Challengers Bangalore at Ahmedabad in the Eliminator on Wednesday.
This is a tough pill to swallow for the Royals, who started the tournament like a house on fire. They won eight out of nine of their first matches in two batches of four consecutive wins separated by their loss to the Gujarat Titans.
Their second run of unbeaten matches was broken by their defeat at the hands of the Sunrisers. That was the first of four losses in a row. In an ironic twist of fate, they are now playing in the Eliminator thanks to the Sunrisers, who ended their run and have taken their spot in second place.
The KKR have been a near-permanent fixture at the top of the table. They have been so good that they have lost only three out of 14 matches. They have also had two washouts, including this one against the Royals. The other one was their last encounter, against GT.
KKR will now go head-to-head with the Sunrisers on Tuesday in the first Qualifier of the tournament. Shreyas Iyer and his teammates will not want to make a meal of that tie against the Sunrisers, whom they defeated in their first match of the season. Victory over the Sunrisers will book them a ticket to the final.