Rajasthan Royals (RR) beat Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) by 2 wickets for the biggest run chase in the Indian Premier League (IPL) history as Jos Buttler’s unbeaten hundred trumped Sunil Narine’s century at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Tuesday.
With the win, RR maintained their spot at the top of IPL 2024 points table with 12 points and a positive NNR of 0.677 while are in second with 8 points and an NNR of 1.399.
IPL 2024: Kolkata Knight Riders vs Rajasthan Royals – HIGHLIGHTS
KKR got a reprieve early in their innings when Riyan Parag dropped the in-form Phil Salt at backward point off Trent Boult’s second ball itself. KKR got off to breezy start despite Boult troubling Narine with the short ball and Salt with a bit of swing.
But, RR got their breakthrough soon enough when Avesh Khan pulled off a stunning reaction catch off his own bowling and in his followthrough to send back Salt.
Angkrish Raghuvanshi walked out and creamed Boult for three fours in the same over to signal his intent from the word go. Narine, on the other hand, launched into Avesh and Kuldeep Sen as the West Indian all-rounder reached his fifty in 29 balls.
Raghuvanshi was dismissed he cut Kuldeep Sen straight to Ashwin at third man. he departed for a well-made fast-paced 30 and a 85-run stand for the second wicket.
Yuzvendra Chahal though did manage to send back Shreyas Iyer after trapping him plumb in front of the wicket, which a DRS also could not reverse.
Narine’s innings could be truncated into his exchange with Ravichandran Ashwin. Each time the RR spinner did not drag his line outside the pitch, he was smacked all around the park.
Narine then targeted the other spinner, Chahal as he readied himself by taking off his helmet. Then carnage followed. 6,4,6,4 – 23 runs from Chahal’s last over as Narine got to his hundred in just 49 balls as Andre Russell ran over to hug his co-star.
Andre Russell though had to walk back on the very next ball of the next over as he held out in the deep to Dhruv Jurel.
Narine was sent packing by a returning Boult as he thundered in the perfect Yorker and then proceeded to laud off his opposite number with a handshake and ‘well played’.
Venkatesh Iyer managed to add eight runs before falling to Kuldeep in the last over as Rinku Singh managed to smash 20 off just nine balls as KKR finished with 223/6.
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In the chase, RR were rocked early as Vaibhav Arora removed Yashasvi Jaiswal in the second over itself.
Mitchell Starc almost had the wicket of Sanju Samson in the very next over but Varun Chakaravarthy dove forward and allowed the ball to go through him on the bounce.
Harshit Rana did get Samson out with a hard length and angled into the batter as Narine took the catch peddling back.
Jos Buttler and Riyan Parag got together to stitch together a 50-run partnership, with the latter doing the most of scoring, mostly with lusty blows to and over the boundary ropes. Harshit though had the last laugh, despite being hit for a six and a four early in the over as Russell took the high catch.
Narine then trapped Jurel LBW. The introduction of Varun Chakaravarthy after the 10-over mark did the trick as he not only stemmed the flow of runs but also brought the wicket of Ashwin. Promoted as a pinch-hitter, akin to Narine, Ashwin failed and in trying, handed catching practice to Raghuvanshi in the deep.
Chakaravarthy was not done though. Off the very next ball, he got the wicket of Shimron Hetmyer. The West Indian chipped one to to short cover as Shreyas Iyer took the simplest off catches.
All the while, Buttler kept going about his business quietly. He reached his 50 with two back-to-back boundaries off Chakaravarthy.
Rovman Powell, at the other end, joined in on the party as he and Buttler smashed Russell and Narine. The champion spinner though fought back with the perfect reply – LBW. Powell was stuck on the crease and decided to take the DRS too. Replays suggested three red on the ball tracker and Narine ended with two wickets to his name.
Buttler was running out of partners as Trent Boult walked in and could not run back for the second and was found short of his ground despite Starc being hit for a couple of sixes.
Buttler kept going, aided by a wide and four byes from Starc. The first ball of the penultimate over was hoicked over deep mid-wicket. The third ball and fourth from Harshit also went for back-to-back fours.
A single of the last ball meant it was nine needed from the last six balls. KKR’s slow over rate meant that they could place only four fielders outside the 30-yard circle. Chakaravarthy took on the challenge.
The first ball though was smashed over long-on for a maximum as Buttler reached his second hundred of the season. Then he wanted to finish it off in style and decided against taking singles on the next three balls. The fifth was pushed to long-off as he scampered through for two. With one needed off the last ball, Butller pulled a shortish ball from Chakaravarthy through mid-wicket to take the single and carry his bat and his team to victory.
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