Match overview
Rajasthan Royals beat Kolkata Knight Riders by 2 wickets at Eden Gardens on 16 April 2024, chasing down a target of 224 in one of IPL 2024's most demanding run-chases. KKR posted 223/6 from their 20 overs, a total that sat 37 runs above the venue's average first-innings score of 186 across 171 matches. Rajasthan's reply was far from smooth. They lost 4 wickets in the middle overs. But Jos Buttler's innings held the innings together, and 79 death-over runs sealed a famous two-wicket win. Buttler was named Player of the Match.
Kolkata's innings was built on a solid powerplay of 56/1 before the middle phase exploded: 105 runs from overs 7 to 15 for just 2 wickets put them on course for something special. Their death overs yielded 62 runs, a reasonable return, and 223/6 looked a genuinely tough ask on a ground where sides batting second have historically won just 53% of the time. Rajasthan, though, had other ideas.
Venue and conditions
Eden Gardens is one of the most storied venues in world cricket and one of the louder, more partisan environments the IPL has to offer. The numbers from 171 T20 matches here tell a useful story. The average powerplay score is 44 runs. Rajasthan's 76/2 blew that benchmark away and set the tone for everything that followed. Average death-over runs sit at 38; both sides exceeded that comfortably, reflecting the nature of the pitch on the night.
The venue's toss data is instructive. Teams choose to field first 58% of the time, suggesting captains generally prefer chasing here, and the 53% chase success rate confirms the logic has some foundation. Rajasthan's decision to field, having won the toss, was textbook Eden Gardens strategy. The pitch tends to ease as the match progresses, offering slightly better value to batters in the second innings once the new-ball nip has worn off, which partly explains the gap between the average first and second innings scores (186 vs 170 respectively).
How to watch
In the United Kingdom, IPL matches are shown live on Sky Sports Cricket. Streaming is available through Sky Go for subscribers and via a NOW TV day or monthly pass for those without a full Sky package. For evening fixtures in India, the UK broadcast window typically begins between 14:30 and 15:00 BST, so afternoon clearance on the calendar is usually sufficient. Sky's coverage includes pre-match analysis and post-match review programmes for the majority of IPL fixtures.
Recent form
Both sides arrived at Eden Gardens in reasonable shape. Kolkata Knight Riders had won four of their previous five matches in IPL 2024, with victories over Lucknow Super Giants, Delhi Capitals, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Sunrisers Hyderabad offset only by a defeat to Chennai Super Kings. That sequence had them amongst the pacesetters in the table heading into this fixture.
Rajasthan Royals were similarly placed, having won four of their last five: Punjab Kings, Royal Challengers Bangalore, Mumbai Indians and Delhi Capitals all fell to them, with only Gujarat Titans ending their run. With both sides in confident form, a high-scoring contest was plausible, and Eden Gardens delivered precisely that. Rajasthan's win here extended the rivalry to 16–12 in KKR's overall favour across 30 meetings, and with KKR having won the most recent two meetings in 2025, the head-to-head remains one of the IPL's more evenly contested rivalries.
