Jos Buttler may have scored his second century of the season, but it was Yuzvendra Chahal who turned the game in the Royals’ favour with a hat-trick in his final over. Chahal finished with a five-wicket haul and picked 4 in his fourth over, to help Rajasthan Royals win by 7 runs against the Kolkata Knight Riders.
The Royals’ total is the highest score in IPL 2022 so far but it was in danger with Shreyas Iyer going great guns. The win takes the Royals to second spot on the points table, with 8 points.
Having been asked to bat first, the Royals got off to a rollicking start with the in-form Jos Buttler and Devdutt Padikkal scoring at good clip. The right and left-hand duo took the KKR bowlers to task in the powerplay, in what was a brilliant partnership at the top of the order.
Buttler was yet again in the mood to do some damage, and almost all the bowlers, apart from Sunil Narine, bore the brunt of his assault. Buttler cut, pulled and drove with power, finding the fence with great ease, and clearly it with as much panache.
Padikkal at the other end too was his usual stylish self, and both ran hard between the wickets too. The openers also ran 4 at one point, finishing the powerplay with the score at 60/0. Buttler however had most of the strike in the 97-run partnership, which ended in the 10th over. Narine, playing his 150th game, got the breakthrough when he cleaned up Padikkal for 24 off 18 balls, two deliveries after the batter smashed him for a six.
Sanju Samson joined Buttler, who by now had not only completed his fifty, but was racing along towards a second century this season. Buttler’s blistering attack meant the Royals were motoring along towards a huge score, and Samson too had joined in the party with a few big blows soon after he walked in.
Cummins, Umesh or even Varun Chakravarthy struggled to keep the duo of Buttler and Samson quiet and RR began the last five overs of the innings with the score at 163/1. KKR turned to Andre Russell, and he responded immediately with the wicket of Samson, who was caught in the deep on the leg side for 38 off 19 balls. Samson and Buttler put on a 67-run stand.
In the 17th over, Cummins offered up a full toss and Buttler clobbered it into the crowd back over the bowler’s head to complete his second century this season. Before the over ended, Cummins bounced back, as a hook from Buttler went straight to Chakaravarthy in the deep. Buttler scored 103 off 61 balls, hitting 9 fours and 5 sixes.
Right after, Narine struck again, as Riyan Parag was gone for 5 thanks to a bit of teamwork between Cummins and Shivam Mavi to complete the catch in the deep. Narine bowled a tight over and finished with figures of 21/2 in four overs as Karun Nair and Shimron Hetmyer hoped to finish well.
Mavi then bowled a five-run over in the 19th, also picking the wicket of Karun for 3, with Cummins taking the catch in the deep. The Royals’ early momentum seemed to have petered away, but Hetmyer smashed a couple of sixes and a boundary in the final over to post 217/5.
In response, KKR changed up the batting order with Narine coming in to open, but he was run-out without facing ball, off the first ball of the innings. At the other end, Aaron Finch had to take charge, and the Australian captain was firing on all cylinders.
Finch, who had Shreyas Iyer for company, took on the bowlers, breaking the shackles towards the end of the powerplay. A 14-run over in the 6th saw KKR get to 57/1, after which Finch launched into Yuzvendra Chahal and Obed McCoy. In the 8th, he took on Prasidh Krishna, who however ended the over with Finch’s wicket. The Australian absolutely battered the bowlers, scoring 58 off 28 deliveries, and along with Shreyas had ensured that KKR would stay in the contest. The skipper meanwhile had settled in quite well and was ready to take on the duty of going for it against the Royals’ bowling. At the half way stage, KKR were 116/2 and pushing towards the finish line.
Shreyas had Nitish Rana for company, and while there were a couple of good overs in the context, the captain started to go with Ashwin’s third over, and then doing a fair amount of damage to Chahal’s figures as well.
Rana added 18 to the cause from 11 deliveries before Chahal had his number and Ashwin went through Andre Russell’s gates, sending back the danger man for a golden duck. KKR at 149/4 had something to worry about, but also had Shreyas playing a solid innings.
Shreyas had Venkatesh for company but had most of the strike, driving KKR on the big hits and quick runs in between as well. In the final 5, KKR needed 51 and Shreyas had a century in sight as well.
Venkatesh Iyer was outfoxed by Chahal in his final over with Samson stumping the left hander for 6, and then also bagged the big scalp of Shreyas, trapped LBW for 85 off 51 deliveries. The KKR captain had hit 7 fours and 4 sixes, and left the stage with 38 runs required from 20 balls.
Chahal wasn’t done with KKR yet, he dismissed Mavi and then finished his spell with the hat-trick, dismissing Pat Cummins for a golden duck. Chahal finished his spell with figures of 5/40, which had pretty much turned the game in the Royals’ favour.
In walked Umesh Yadav and hammered two sixes and a boundary in a 20-run over of Trent Boult, who finished with figures of 0/48. Prasidh’s final over costed the Royals 7 and KKR needed 11 from the final six deliveries which were to be bowled by Obed McCoy.
McCoy sent back Sheldon Jackson for 8, with KKR needed 9 more from the final 4, with only Varun Chakaravarthy to come. The spinner gave Umesh the strike but the debutant McCoy knocked over the stumps and the Royals won by 7 runs.
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