IPL 2018, RR vs KKR: Ajinkya Rahane Hits Sunil Narine For 4 Consecutive Fours, Creates Record — Watch

IPL 2018, RR vs KKR: Ajinkya Rahane thrashed Sunil Narine's bowling, hitting him for four boundaries on the trot in the fourth over

Arun Rawal
Apr 18, 2018

Ajinkya Rahane did what no batsman in Indian Premier League (IPL) history has been able to do to Sunil Narine — hit him for four consecutive fours. Narine is ranked first in IPL’s ‘Most Economical Bowlers’ list with an economy rate of 6.35. But Rahane did not let that come in way of taking him on. The Rajasthan Royals (RR) captain struck him for four consecutive boundaries in the fourth over.

Narine was introduced into the attack in the fourth over of the innings. Wrist-spinners Kuldeep Yadav and Piyush Chawla had done a good job so far, giving just 9 runs in the first three overs which put pressure on opener D’Arcy Short. Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) skipper introduced Karthik to keep it that way and try to take a wicket early on but he was about to see the flip-side of spin bowling in the powerplay overs.

First ball: Rahane sweeps a straighter delivery towards backward square leg for a boundary. Not the usual welcome Narine gets into the attack.

Second ball: Rahane makes use of the fielding restrictions, shimmies down the track, gets to the pitch of the ball and hits it wide off the mid-off fielder Andre Russell.

Third ball: This was getting serious, no one has dared to hit him for consecutive boundaries this year, which is what Rahane must have got Narine thinking as he bowled a wide short delivery. Rahane plays it late past the point fielder and got the third consecutive boundary of the over.

Fourth ball: Rahane hangs on the back foot, uses the pace of the delivery and bisects the gap between point and cover-point fielder for another boundary.

Here’s the video of Rahane’s masterclass —

Rahane stuns Narine 4×4https://t.co/CAXpftEQR9

— Faizal Khan (@faizalkhanm9) April 18, 2018

ALSO READ: IPL 2018: Here’s How Arjun Tendulkar Helped Rohit Sharma Score A Match-Winning 94 Against RCB

A total of 18 runs were scored off Narine’s over. He proved out to be the most expensive bowler of KKR with 48 runs from 4 overs. Rahane scored 36 runs from 19 balls but his innings was cut-short by Dinesh Karthik’s brilliance behind the stumps.

ALSO READ: IPL 2018, RR vs KKR: Dinesh Karthik Gives MS Dhoni Tough Competition, Pulls Off Lightening-Fast Stumping — Watch

Narine tried to make up for his bowling by batting up the order. He scored 35 runs from 25 balls but got run-out after a mix-up with Robin Uthappa.