Fueled by Jos Buttler's blazing 107* off 60 balls, Rajasthan Royals scripted history in the Indian Premier League (IPL), orchestrating the joint-highest successful chase ever recorded as they beat Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 2 wickets in the 31st match of the tournament on Tuesday, 16 April at the Eden Gardens.
Despite Sunil Narine’s heroics in the first innings, the visitors successfully chased down the daunting target of 224 runs, securing their sixth victory of the season.
Decent Start From RR
The chase for RR kicked off decently, but they faced setbacks early on. In just the second over, opener Yashasvi Jaiswal fell victim to Vaibhav Arora's delivery, departing after a brisk 19 off 9 balls.
The troubles compounded in the fifth over as skipper Sanju Samson was caught by Sunil Narine off Harshit Rana's delivery, contributing only 12 runs to RR's total. By the end of the powerplay, RR stood at 76/2.
In the eighth over, Harshit Rana claimed his second wicket, sending Riyan Parag packing after a quick 34 off 14 balls. The following over saw Dhruv Jurel dismissed by Narine for just 2 runs.
Back To Back Wickets for KKR
The thirteenth over brought a surge for KKR as spinner Varun Chakravarthy clinched the wickets of R Ashwin and Shimron Hetmeyer on consecutive deliveries. Ashwin managed 8 runs off 11 balls before departing without scoring, while Hetmeyer was sent back for a duck.
In the 15th over, RR found a ray of hope as opener Jos Buttler notched up his fifty off just 36 balls.
Narine continued his dominance, grabbing his second wicket by dismissing Rovman Powell in the 17th over. Powell had scored a promising 26 runs off 13 balls before his dismissal.
In the 18th over, RR suffered the loss of their eighth wicket as Trent Boult was run-out. Despite wickets falling steadily from the other end, opener Jos Buttler remained resolute. With remarkable composure, Buttler not only reached his century but did so in spectacular fashion, smashing a ton off just 55 balls. The English batter anchored the innings, staying unbeaten at 107 runs, guiding his team to a thrilling 2-wicket victory.
What Happened in the First Innings?
Earlier, West Indies all-rounder Sunil Narine put up an exhilarating display of power-hitting, hammering his maiden century in T20 cricket as he helped KKR post 223/6 in 20 overs.
Asked to bat first by Rajasthan Royals, Narine blasted his highest score in the shortest format of the game as he raced to his century off 49 balls, becoming only the third KKR batter to score a century in IPL and the first home batter to score a hundred at the Eden Gardens in IPL.
Narine has been restored to opening the innings after a long time this season and delivered on Tuesday with a sensational innings. Narine used his trademark stand-and-hit style of batting as he muscled the bowlers to the boundary to eventually score 109 off 56 balls, studded with 13 boundaries and six maximums.
KKR's Powerful Start
KKR got off to a good start despite losing Phil Salt early as they raced to 56/1 in the Power-play thanks mainly to West Indies dasher Sunil Narine and young Angkrish Raghuvanshi, who was promoted to the No.3 position and made it count with an 18-ball 30. KKR reached 101/1 at the halfway stage.
But they lost a couple of wickets in quick succession, Raghuvanshi returning to the dugout after adding 85 runs for the second-wicket partnership with Narine.
From 106/2, KKR slumped to 133/3 as skipper Shreyas Iyer was trapped LBW by Chahal. But the setbacks did not matter much for Sunil Narine as the West Indies allrounder continued with his power-hitting, hammering shots around the ground as he raced to his century off 49 balls.
Rinku's Cameo
Boult ended Narine's masterpiece as he cleaned him up with a fine yorker but Narine had done the damage by that time, helping KKR reach 195/5 in the 19th over.
Rinku Singh (20 off 9 balls) blasted a couple of lusty hits as KKR reached 223/6 in 20 overs, giving the two-time champions a defendable total.
Avesh Khan was the best bowler for Rajasthan with 2-35 while Trent Boult was miserly at 1-31 in his four overs. Yuzvendra Chahal was hammered for 1-54 off his four overs, Narin doing most of the damage by slogging him for 23 runs in one over.
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