Kolkata: In a thrilling encounter at Eden Gardens in Kolkata, a sensational century by Jos Buttler and explosive contributions from Riyan Parag and Rovman Powell propelled the Rajasthan Royals (RR) to a nail-biting two-wicket victory over the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Tuesday.
RR topped the table with this win, having won six, lost one and obtained 12 points. KKR is in the second spot, with four wins and two losses, giving them eight points.
Buttler’s unbeaten 107* off 60 balls, featuring nine fours and six sixes, guided RR to victory on the final ball, marking his second century of the season and seventh in IPL history.
RR’s chase started with a decent opening, as Yashasvi Jaiswal hit early boundaries but was caught by Venkatesh Iyer for 19. Skipper Sanju Samson contributed 12 runs before being dismissed by Harshit Rana.
Riyan Parag’s aggressive 34 off 14 balls and Buttler’s steady innings kept RR in the hunt. However, Varun Chakravarthy’s crucial 13th over turned the tide in KKR’s favor, claiming two wickets. Despite losing wickets, Buttler’s heroic effort and Powell’s quickfire 26 off 13 balls tilted the balance in RR’s favor, setting up a thrilling finish.
The final overs saw Buttler taking charge, smashing boundaries off Harshit’s bowling, and bringing the equation down to nine runs off the last over. With consistent hitting, Buttler reached his century in just 55 balls, sealing the victory for RR with a last-ball finish.
Narine, Chakravarthy, and Harshit claimed two wickets each for KKR but couldn’t prevent RR’s successful chase.
Earlier in the first innings, star all-rounder Sunil Narine smashed a fiery 109-run innings, propelling the KKR to an imposing total of 223/6 against the RR in their IPL 2024 encounter at the iconic Eden Gardens on Tuesday.
With his ton, Narine became the first cricketer to slam a century and take 100 wickets in the IPL. The Caribbean’s blitzkrieg knock helped KKR give a massive 224-run target to Rajasthan.
Angkrish Raghuvanshi delivered an explosive cameo, scoring 30 runs off 18 balls, while Rinku Singh chipped in with a rapid 20 runs off 9 balls, helping KKR post a formidable total.
Earlier RR skipper Sanju Samson won the toss and elected to bowl first against Shreyas Iyer-led Kolkata Knight Riders. After winning the toss RR skipper Sanju Samson said, “We would like to bowl first. Might be better to chase on this. Very much excited to be back in Eden Gardens, there’s a great vibe in the stadium. Jos and Ash are available for this game, so they are coming back.”
KKR captain Shreyas Iyer at the toss said, “Would have loved to bowl as well based on the last game, on how the ball moved around. Whenever he (Narine) comes in, he is hard to read and he’s got that poker face all throughout, we want him to perform him the way he has. We are playing the same team.”
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Philip Salt(w), Sunil Narine, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Shreyas Iyer(c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Varun Chakaravarthy, Harshit Rana
Kolkata Knight Riders Impact Subs: Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Manish Pandey, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Vaibhav Arora
Rajasthan Royals (Playing XI): Yashasvi Jaiswal, Sanju Samson(w/c), Riyan Parag, Dhruv Jurel, Shimron Hetmyer, Rovman Powell, Ravichandran Ashwin, Trent Boult, Avesh Khan, Kuldeep Sen, Yuzvendra Chahal
Rajasthan Royals Impact Subs: Jos Buttler, Kohler-Cadmore, Shubham Dubey, Navdeep Saini, Nandre Burger
