In order to set the stage for the joint-highest run chase in IPL history, Jos Buttler smashes a century, his second of the season, and negates Sunil Narine’s maiden triple-figure score in the competition. With a score of 109 off 56, Narine’s return to the KKR opening position reached a record high.
With their 200+ total behind them, KKR appeared poised to overtake RR atop the points table. However, Buttler’s mastery and RR’s six-over madness at the finish proved too much for them as RR scored 96 runs in only six overs.
Short Score : Kolkata Knight Riders223/6 in 20 overs (Sunil Narine 109, Angkrish Raghuvanshi 30; Avesh Khan 2-35) lost to Rajasthan Royals 224/8 in 20 overs (Jos Buttler 107*, Riyan Parag 34; Sunil Narine 2-30) by 2 wickets
First Inning :
Even though Avesh Khan produced an incredible return catch to send Phil Salt packing after he lost a catch by Riyan Parag at point in the opening over, KKR once again made an outstanding start to their batting innings. After reaching 26/1 in 4 overs, KKR shot off the blocks.
Even against Trent Boult, one of RR’s outstanding powerplay bowlers, Narine and the outstanding Angkrish Raghuvanshi went all out to lead the side to 56/1 in 6 overs. Before this game, Boult’s economy rate in the PowerPlay was 6.06. He got struck for 24 runs in three overs. In the sixth over, Narine took aim at Kuldeep Sen in an attempt to warm up for the remarkable innings that was ahead.
The risk-taking opener for KKR made the most of his matchup with R Ashwin, a bowler with whom he matches up well in the middle overs. Narine has struck 60 off 22 from Ashwin in the IPL coming into this match. He scored 34 off 17 tonight, including two sixes and four fours.
With a long off, deep point, and deep extra cover, Ashwin created a crowded off-side field, but the left-hander kept slashing it. Ashwin flirted with the wide line outside the off-stump and even managed a couple of dots. He managed to get the runs to ding RR in the middle even with those.
After taking out Shreyas Iyer to reach 199 IPL wickets, Yuzvendra Chahal ended with his lowest IPL numbers of 1 for 54 after being well outclassed by Narine, especially in his final over when he let up 23 runs.
With his second-worst returns of 0 for 49, Ashwin extended his run without a wicket to five games this season. They each let up 103 runs at an economy rate of 12.87 in the eight overs.
Andre Russell was able to punish RR even more after Narine reached his century in the 16th over. Avesh returned to deny the massive West Indian a final flourish, allowing Dhruv Jurel to catch him at extra cover for a 10-ball 13.
Merely seven runs were scored in that over and the subsequent one from Boult, which also saw the dismissal of Narine. But in the final two overs, Rinku Singh and Venkatesh Iyer struck for 25 runs, leading KKR to 223/6.
Second Inning :
In a chase as difficult as this one, Jos Buttler and Riyan Parag gave the visitors the head start they needed, as they compiled their highest PowerPlay score of the year (76/1). Although Sanju Samson failed to live up to expectations after two poor performances and Yashasvi Jaiswal produced another poor performance, Parag persisted in moving his daring middle-of-the-batting style alongside Buttler.
In a 23-run over in the sixth over, Parag defeated Vaibhav Arora and Harshit Rana, outpacing Buttler in the process. Against Rana, Parag was especially harsh, but he was dismissed by the slower bowler, with Andre Russell making a great catch in the deep.
RR continued to be on target for the huge chase despite losing three wickets and amassing 98 runs in eight overs. The ninth over saw Sunil Narine alter things by catching Dhruv Jurel leg before.
Although R Ashwin was again moved up the order, he was unable to force a run while Buttler also had trouble centering the ball at one point.
The sticky pitch was used by KKR spinners to hinder RR’s shot-making, as they were reduced to 121/4 in 12 overs with 8 overs remaining and 103 needed.
Ashwin and Shimron Hetmyer were bowled off consecutive deliveries by Varun Chakravarthy, who was having a fantastic spell. This placed KKR on track to dominate the points table at the end of the evening. Jos Buttler, though, had different plans.
